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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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Chap .... il No. - 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







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SOUTHERN 



Presbyterian Pulpit 



A COLLECTION OF SERMONS 



MINISTERS OF THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 

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CONG„ iSs 






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Ktcfymonb, Va. : 
The Presbyterian Committee of PublkJation. 



-H.N 




Copyrighted by 

JAMES K. HAZEN, Secretary of Publication, 

1896. 



Printed by 

WhITTRT & SH EPPERSON, 

Richmond, Va. 



PREFACE. 



Two motives have prompted the issue of this volume. 
There has been a distinct demand for a book of practical 
sermons, suitable for reading in the public worship of 
God when conducted by ruling elders of the church. 
It would seem eas)^ from the many sermons published, 
to supply this demand, and yet the selection is often 
very difficult. We are sure that, under such circum- 
stances, our people will be glad to hear from one of our 
own ministers. 

But, in addition to this motive, it has seemed very 
desirable to put in permanent form some examples of 
the work of our Southern Presbyterian pulpit, which is, 
we are confident, second to none in eloquence, doctrinal 
purity, persuasiveness, and practical power. 

It will add much to the value of this collection that 
the readers will have before them an excellent likeness 
of the author of the discourse to which their attention 
may be directed. 

August, 1896. 



CONTENTS. 



Paqe. 

The Transforming Power of the Gospel, g 

rev. b. m. palmer, d. d. 

The Changing World and the Unchanging God, 24 

rev. moses d. hoge, d. d. 

"One Jesus," 40 

rev. j. henry smith, d. d. 

The Gospel Call, 53 

rev. geo. d. armstrong, d. d. 

"What is the Chaff to the Wheat?" 66 

rev. j. w. lupton, d. d. 

Christ's Pastoral Presence with his Dying People, ... 74 
rev. john l. girardeau, d. d. 

The Pitilessness of Sin, 86 

rev. j. r. stratton, d. d. 

The Happy Service, 99 

rev. r. l. dabney, d. d. 

Seeking the Lord, 118 

rev. j. w. rosebro, d. d. 

Our Redeemer's Prayer for Christian Unity, r28 

rev. neander m. woods, d. d. 

The Divineness of the Family Bond, .......... 145 

rev. w. u. murkland, d. d. 

Why Believers Should Not Fear, 161 

rev. a. w. pitzer, d. d. 
5 



6 CONTENTS. 

Pagb. 

The Ruler's Question i 73 

rev. j. h. bryson, d. d. 

Children of the Covenant, 184 

rev. s. w. davies, d. d. / 

Man Inspired of God, 195 

rev. g. r. brackett, d. d. 

"How Long Halt Ye Between Two Opinions," 204 

rev. j. r. burgett, d. d. 

Consecration, 220 

rev. g. b. strickler, d. d. 

Personal Work for the Master, 235 

rev. w. n. scott, d. d. 

Joseph of Arimathea, 243 

rev. john a. preston, d. d. 

The Striving Spirit, 255 

rev. robert p. kerr, d. d. 

Applied Christianity, 263 

rev. r. k. smoot, d. d. 

The Three Causes of Salvation, 277 

rev. w. w. moore, d. d. 

The Necessity of Christ's Resurrection 287 

rev. j. f. cannon, d d. 

Natural Law and Divine Providence, 296 

rev. peyton h. hoge, d. d. 

Take Hold of God, ■ 307 

rev. james i. vance, d. d. 

" To Me to Live is Christ," , . 319 

REV. J. R. HOWERTON, D. D, 



CONTENTS. 7 

Page. 

The Valley of Achor, 332 

rev. g. l. petrie, d. d. 

Religion Not a Vain Thing, 342 

rev. samuel a. king, p. d. 

Jesus' Supreme Authority, 355 

rev. c. k. hemphill, d. d. 

Trust in the Lord, 364 

rev. joseph r. wilson d. d. 

Not One Forgotten, 374 

rev. t. d. witherspoon, d. d. 

The Sabbath Day, 384 

rev. w. f. v. bartlett, d. d. 

The Gospel as First Revealed, 399 

rev. w. t. hall, d. d. 



THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE 
GOSPEL. 

BY REV. B. M. PALMER, D. D. 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, La. 



" Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old 
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. " — 
2 Cor. v. 17. 

A NOTED scoffer was once arrested in his noisy in- 
vective against Christianity by two simple ques- 
tions, to which a direct and candid answer was 
challenged : What would be the effect upon the world if 
all men were sincere Christians ? and, on the other hand, 
what would be the effect upon the world if all men were 
consistent infidels ? In the silence which followed these 
questions was manifested the skeptic's defeat. For you 
observe that he could not return a truthful answer to one 
or the other without abandoning his own case. The 
argument is a valid one, founded upon the moral effect of 
the two systems as compared one with the other. If 
Christianity is found to be a system whose principles, 
heartily adopted, will relieve the world of most of the 
evils by which it is oppressed and convert this earth 
into a paradise, then, surely, it is the last ot all systems 
that men ought to decry. If, on the other hand, infi- 
delity, overturning Christianity, destroys the founda- 
tions on which all virtue and morality are based, then it 
is the last of all systems that ought to be upheld. The 
text sets forth this transforming power of the gospel 
over the characters and lives of men. 
9 



IO SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

I need scarcely pause to expound the beautiful, though 
simple, expression, "if any man be in Christ Jesus" ; 
for you remember there are two correlative expressions — 
to be in Christ, is one; for Christ to be in us, is the 
other ; and these two expressions are employed in the 
New Testament to cover, upon the right hand and upon 
the left hand, the whole gospel. To be in Christ is to 
be united to him by a living faith ; so that we are clothed 
with his righteousness and, as is beautifully expressed 
in another Scripture, ' ' We are accepted in the beloved. ' ' 
Christ is in us when the Holy Spirit forms the image of 
Christ in our hearts. We are made new creatures in 
him ; and then the Spirit carries forward the work of 
sanctification, until at length we are translated to the 
world of glory. 

If any man be in Christ, then, he is entirely trans- 
formed ; ' ' old things are passed away : behold, all things 
are become new." But let us preciseby understand the 
nature of the claim ; it is by no means affirmed that all 
who profess Christianity experience, in like degree, this 
transforming change. Alas, my hearers, many who 
profess to be the children of God are in ' ' the gall of bit- 
terness and in the bonds of iniquity." The number is 
larger still of those converted by the Spirit of God, who 
are, nevertheless, imperfectly developed Christians. 
And in none of those who are the purest and best is this 
development completed till death. Not till then is the 
likeness to Christ made perfect by the last touches of the 
divine artist, and we are delivered forever from the pre- 
sence and being of sin, as before we were, in a measure, 
delivered from its power and dominion. But, in all 
stages of the work, the nature and the reality of this 
transforming change may distinctly be traced. 

What is it, then, which gives to the gospel its trans- 



THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. II 

forming power? How comes it to pass that whenever 
it takes hold upon the sinner it makes him a new crea- 
ture — old things passing away and all things becoming 
new? I have three special answers to return to this 
question, all which are so important that I must break 
each into distinct specifications. 

I. The gospel has this transforming power over the 
characters and lives of men because it undertakes 

TO DEAL WITH SIN IN ITS ESSENCE AND ROOT, AND NOT 
WITH SIN IN ITS EXTERNAL FORMS OR OUTWARD MANI- 
FESTATIONS. In this particular you perceive that the 
gospel is separated, by a long interval, from all the sys- 
tems of moral reform which are devised by men. We 
have associations for the suppression of intemperance 
and of gambling. We have voluntary organizations, by 
precept and example to build up specific virtues in the 
world. All these associations, however praiseworthy, 
are, from the very statement of the case, merely pallia- 
tive, whilst the gospel claims to be distinctly reme- 
dial. These schemes of reform strike at particular 
evils ; they lop off the diseased branches of the tree. 
The gospel undertakes to go behind all these down to 
the sin, which lies at the root of every vice. It under- 
takes to effect a radical cure — not to remove the diseased 
limb of the tree, but to engraft upon the trunk, and to 
send down into its roots the virtue of a new life. The 
gospel transforms the character of man and makes him a 
new creature in Christ for the simple reason that it deals 
with sin in its interior nature rather than in its external 
form. * This will be made plain if we view the gospel 
under four different aspects. 

i. // is the only system which undertakes to provide a 
perfect pardon and to readjust man's relations to the violated 
law. In every government, human or divine, the first 



12 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

thing to be considered is our relation to the law. Imme- 
diately upon transgression, the law seizes the offender's 
person, brings him before the tribunal of justice, convicts 
him under the evidence, fixes upon him the sentence of 
condemnation, and holds him in prison, awaiting the 
execution of the penalty. Of necessity, therefore, in 
seeking relief, his first concern will be to settle with the 
law and to cancel its indictment. It does not make a 
particle of difference, at the first, how the man feels as 
to his transgression ; whether he glories in it, or is sorry 
for it; whether, if released from punishment, he will 
lead a life of obedience or repeat his trespass to the end. 
The first and absorbing question is how to escape the 
infliction of the penalty which he has incurred. How 
shall he come forth from the shadow of his prison and 
walk in the free air of heaven with an erect form, and 
look without a blush in the faces of other men. 

Now, this is just what the gospel undertakes to do for 
the sinner. It provides a perfect pardon, and secures it 
upon principles of strict justice and law. The imperfec- 
tion of human government is in nothing more manifest 
than in the fact that it never can exercise mercy except 
at the expense of justice. The criminal can never escape 
the penalty without inflicting a certain amount of injury 
upon the country and the law. If he escape by any de- 
fect in the evidence he is turned loose again to prey 
upon society as before. If executive clemency sets aside 
the deliberate judgment of the court, a shock is given to 
the stability of government by the collision between its 
two departments, which ought to be mutually support- 
ing. But in the gospel, the justice and integrity of God 
are as completely vindicated as in the punishment of the 
transgressor. Whilst the sinner escapes the penalty, 
the law of God is more firmly established than before. 



THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 13 

Such a pardon, in which every claim of law is satis- 
fied, goes to the root of the sinner's case, so far as his 
guilt is concerned, for the reason that it is a pardon which 
can be sealed upon the conscience and give it perfect 
peace. 

2. The gospel provides that tlie sinner shall, by repen- 
tance, put away the sin from himself. Not only does God 
cast his iniquities into the sea and remember them 
against him no more, but his grace enables the sinner 
to concur in a solemn act of repudiation on his part also, 
whereby he is doubly separated from the sins which he 
bewails. It is thus expressed by the Apostle Paul: 
"That I may win Christ and be found in him, not hav- 
ing mine own righteousness which is of the law, but 
that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteous- 
ness which is of God by faith." The first element in 
repentance is, of course, a true knowledge of sin — its 
very nature being opened to the spiritual eye so as to be 
seen in its hidden deformity. The second element is a 
thorough hatred of that sin, the vileness of which is so 
clearly perceived, and then bitter grief for its commis- 
sion. After this comes the honest endeavor to turn 
away from it. Thus repentance, like a sharp sword, 
cleaves between a man and his sins — causes them to be 
cast behind his back with a most thorough repudiation — 
and leads him to strive with a vigorous purpose after 
new obedience. What a wonderful system ! which not 
only blots out the sin from the divine record, but gives 
power to the transgressor himself to put the offence 
away, as disowned and rejected forever ! In striking 
thus directly at the dominion of sin, no less than its 
guilt, the remedial character of the gospel is disclosed. 

3. In the new birth is communicated a superior and divine 
life to tlie soul ' ' dead in trespasses and sins. ' ' The spirit- 



14 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

ual life, which man possessed before the fall, consisted in 
the holiness of nature in which he was created. In the 
loss of his- original rectitude, man became spiritually 
dead. Hence, in the definition of original sin, as given 
in our standards, this "want of original righteousness" 
is placed between "the guilt of Adam's first sin" and 
"the corruption of our whole nature," as being the 
nexus by which the two are bound together. The legal 
process may be briefly stated thus : Adam being consti- 
tuted in the covenant the representative and head of his 
posterity, his act, whether of obedience or of sin, would, 
by virtue of this headship, become putatively their act. 
The legal effect of this imputation of Adam's sin would 
be to separate man from God, with the consequent loss 
of that holiness in which he was created — and upon the 
loss of this original righteousness the entire corruption 
of nature must ensue. When, therefore, Christ, the 
second Adam, takes the sinner's place under the law, 
and satisfies its claim, the righteousness of the substi- 
tute is reckoned to the sinner as his own — precisely as 
before in the imputation of the first Adam's transgres- 
sion. The guilt being now removed, and the sinner 
being legally restored to the divine favor, the spiritual 
life, which had been forfeited under the curse, must be 
restored. This is done by the Holy Spirit in the new 
birth, whereby the sinner is quickened into spiritual life 
through the principle of holiness once more implanted in 
the soul. 

In the power of this new and divine life the sinner 
puts forth the act of faith which appropriates Christ's 
righteousness, and takes into actual possession what had 
previously been legally reckoned as the ground of recon- 
ciliation with God. By the same power he exercises 
also the repentance above described, by which he be- 



THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. I 5 

comes, on his part, separated practically, as before 
legally, from the sins he deplores. In the impartation 
of this new life is begun the process by which the sin is 
eventually destroyed, whose guilt has already been par- 
doned, and its dominion already broken. But this intro- 
duces to the topic of the section that follows. 

4. As stated above, the salvation of the sinner is not 
completed without the entire elimination of si?i from the 
nature itself, in the sanctification and glorification of the 
believer. Language and thought alike fail in depicting 
this blessed consummation. It almost staggers belief 
that man shall not only be delivered from the dominion 
of sin, but eventually from its very presence and being. 
We accept it only upon the divine testimony, and be- 
cause it is the logical outcome of the scheme of grace 
itself. If, in regeneration, a divine life is communicated 
to the sinner, its characteristic energy must, by its own 
expulsive force, drive out the sin which obstructs its 
growth. The power of sin is daily weakened, and there 
comes a moment, it may be in the instant of death, when 
the last stain is washed away in the Saviour's atoning 
blood, and the being of sin is forever destroyed in the 
soul. Transformed into the image of his divine Re- 
deemer and Head, the believer ascends to heaven with a 
nature as holy as that in which he first came from his 
Creator's hand. The peer now of spotless angels who 
never sinned, he teaches them the song of redeeming 
grace, to which they can only respond in the mighty 
chorus, "Blessing and honor and glory and power be 
unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb forever and ever. ' ' 

Is not the gospel, then, a glorious remedy for sin, go- 
ing down to its root to destroy it there in the very seat 
of its life ? It seals upon the conscience a perfect pardon, 



l6 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN IT I. PIT. 

which takes away all guilt ; it cuts out the cancer from 
the man himself through the surgery of an honest repen- 
tance; it breathes a divine life into the soul that was 
separated from Cod, and completes its beneficence by 
the extirpation of sin itself and the transfiguration of the 
saint in glory. Here is no palliation of an inveterate 
disease, but its radical cure in a fourfold deliverance from 
the punishment, the dominion, the pollution, and the being 
of sin. Well may the apostle say, " If any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed away ; 
behold, all things are become new." 

II. The gospel is thus transforming in its influence 

BECAUSB THE POWER IS DIVINE BY WHICH IT WORKS. 

It is a law of nature that, wherever there is motion there 
is power behind it as the cause. Now, when you ask 
for the power by which this transformation is wrought 
in the character of the sinner, the answer ascribes the 
change to the power of God alone. There are one or 
two specifications under this head also : 

i . It is the concurrent power of each person of the God- 
head in their official distinction. God, in the Scriptures, 
is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. These are 
plainly distinguished from each other, so that the Father 
is never confounded with the Son, nor the Son with the 
Spirit. Offices are assigned to each, which are so dis- 
tinctive that they can neither be transposed nor consoli- 
dated. Affections are attributed to them which belong 
only to persons, such as anger and grief. The distinc- 
tion, therefore, is not of attributes belonging to, nor of 
relations and offices discharged by, one and the same 
individual, but it is a distinction of persons in the ador- 
able Trinity, who are yet revealed, however incompre- 
hensible the mystery, as the one only living and true 
God. 



THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 17 

It follows, from this unity of being, that the trinity of 
persons must concur in every action of the Deity, whether 
it be in creation, providence, or grace. We accordingly 
find in the Scriptures all the divine works referred now 
to one and now to another of these three persons respec- 
tively. The distinct agency of each is, however, not 
clearly drawn until we come to the scheme of redemp- 
tion. As to the works of creation and providence, the 
distinction is sufficiently intimated as the exercise of 
power from the Father, by the Son, and through the 
Spirit ; from the Father, in the way of original and su- 
preme authority; by the Son, in the way of immediate 
efficiency ; through the Spirit, in the way of a completing 
and applying agency. 

If this distinction should appear to you vague and un- 
certain, it becomes amazingly clear and full in the scheme 
of grace. In this the Father, as the first in the order of 
thought, is the immediate representative of the Godhead 
(holds in his hands the reins of universal empire), ad- 
ministers the law and fastens its penalty upon the trans- 
gressor. It is the office of the Father, in the covenant 
of redemption, to accept the Son as the sinner's substi- 
tute under the law ; to give the commission under which 
this Son shall act as the Mediator ; to accept the sacrifice 
by which man's sin is expiated; to justify all those to 
whom this perfect righteousness is imputed ; and to 
crown this Redeemer and all his seed with everlasting 
glory. The Son, in the distinction of his personality as 
the Son, undertakes the sinner's cause; endures the 
penalty of sin in his stead ; renders the obedience in 
which he had failed ; ascends to heaven to plead the 
merit of his sacrifice ; sues out the sinner's right to 
pardon and life, and sends forth the Holy Spirit under 
his royal commission to work this complete salvation 



l8 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

into the experience of men. Whilst the Holy Ghost, 
the third of this trinity in unity, reserves to himself the 
final office in this scheme of grace, in applying the re- 
demption purchased by Christ and making the believer 
meet for glory and immortality beyond the grave. 

Here, then, is not only divine power, but that power 
concurrently wielded by each person of the Godhead in 
each of the three parts of the scheme of grace. How 
can it fail to produce the effect which is stated in the 
text? If the power of the Father decreeing this salva- 
tion, and the power of the Son executing it, and the 
power of the Holy Spirit applying it — if it all bears 
directly upon the sinner's case, he must be changed 
into the image of his Creator, from glory unto glory. 
The immediateness of this applied power from each of 
the persons of the Godhead gives additional security to 
the result, leaving no opportunity for the intrusion of 
any disturbing agency which shall arrest the completion 
of that which grace has begun. 

2. // is power spri?iging out of spontaneous love ; not 
intermittent, but eo?istant. There are those of scientific 
taste who amuse themselves with the effort to discover 
perpetual motion, just as the alchemists of old sought 
for the water of life, or labored to transmute the baser 
metals into gold. Assuming that for all movement 
there must be a force, and endeavoring by a combination 
of natural forces to compensate for the loss of energy 
experienced in producing motion, they hope to arrive at 
movement which shall never cease. But the secret of 
all force is found at last in the divine will; and God's 
will is always effective, because God always lives. In- 
terpose as many secondary causes as } r ou please, you are 
compelled, by the law of thought which seeks for the 
efficiency of every cause, to ascend to the eternal purpose 



THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 19 

and thought of the infinite Jehovah. Multiply the links 
as you may, you must have at last the ring-bolt which 
suspends the chain from the arm of him who is himself 
uncaused. 

But we would be overwhelmed by this conception of 
infinite power if it were not the free movement of infinite 
love as well. " Herein is love; not that we loved God, 
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitia- 
tion for our sins." It is power, indeed; but power 
springing from a nature of love, always under the direc- 
tion of infinite wisdom and benevolence. It will, there- 
fore, be a constant force, carrying the provisions of the 
gospel to their last result. When power and love com- 
bine the believer may well utter the triumphant chal- 
lenge, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 
Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through 
him that loved us." 

3. It is the power pledged in the stipulations and promises 
of the divi?ie cove?ia?it. The pledge, you perceive, is two- 
fold, in the stipulations between the parties to the cove- 
nant, and in the promises made to those who receive its 
benefits. But who are the parties? Only the persons 
of the adorable Godhead. Far back in the silence of 
past eternity, before sun, moon, or stars shone in the 
firmament, or any creature had been fashioned — in the 
far-off ages when only God was, the Eternal Three de- 
vised the scheme by which man should be released from 
the thraldom and guilt of sin. The distribution of offices, 
which must be severally discharged, involved certain 
stipulations between those who assumed the various 
parts. The Father gave to the Son those whom he 
should redeem ; the Son came under obligation to rescue 
these from eternal death : the Holy Ghost gave his 
pledge to apply this redemption to all those for whom it 



20 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

was wrought. Can this solemn compact fail without a 
rupture in the Godhead? 

The salvation thus secured under these mutual stipu- 
lations is made over to the sinner under "exceeding 
great and precious promises ' ' which are ' ' yea and amen 
in Christ Jesus." With what tender emphasis our faith 
is here assured. Wherever the sinner is found on the 
face of the earth, the gospel comes with its repeated 
"Verily, verily, I say unto you." Yes, sinner, yes, it 
constantly proclaims, Whosoever believeth shall be 
saved. Then comes the blessed "Amen"; the bene- 
diction which follows the affirmation and seals the pro- 
mise under its own exultation. "So be it," sounds 
the triple voice in the pavilion of the Godhead ! " So be 
it, ' ' says the law in the person of the Father ; " So be it, " 
cries divine mercy in the person of the Son ; " So be it, " 
cries infinite grace in the person of the Holy Ghost. 
The grand ' ' Amen ' ' rings through the upper temple in 
the song of angels, while the glad echo goes up from a 
redeemed earth to give a new tone to the music of heaven. 

Surely, he who trusts in the Lord Jesus plants his feet 
upon a rock — upon the Rock of Ages, the eternal rock; 
the rock of God's own rectitude, his infinite justice and 
unchangeable truth. With such guarantees, the gospel 
can never fail to accomplish its last result in the trans- 
figuration of the believer. 

III. The gospel is thus transforming in its power 

BECAUSE IT BRINGS THE WHOLE AGENCY OF MAN INTO 

co-operation with that of God. God is unchange- 
able in his works as well as in his being. Having made 
man holy and put him under law, he will never contra- 
vene the principles of this economy, but will hold him 
to his responsibility in the scheme of salvation as dis- 
tinctly as in the fall. No man ever trusted in the Saviour 



THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 21 

without a consciousness of his concurrence in the accep- 
tance of the "great salvation." The pardon is never 
sealed upon us until we embrace him who offers it. Not 
only in the first exercise of faith and repentance is this 
human concurrence brought into view, but through the 
long conflict with indwelling sin, and in the assured 
hope with which the Christian mounts from the bed of 
death to sit at the right hand of the King in his glory. 
It is in the free play of all his faculties, as they are 
emancipated from the bondage of sin, the transforming 
energy of divine grace finds its manifestation. 

Arresting all discussion at this point, I press upon your 
attention one or two practical inferences. The first is, 
the grave responsibility which is herein laid iipon God 1 s 
children. So far as the Scriptures inform us, redeemed 
sinners are the only representatives of God's most majes- 
tic work, and of the most important and holy principles 
which he has undertaken to reveal to the creature. 
What a responsibility ! We undertake to say to the uni- 
verse that there is pardon, consistent with holiness, 
justice and truth, for the sinner that will accept it. Is 
our testimony challenged, and do we say the Bible affirms 
it? Let the Bible speak for itself. God is his own wit- 
ness when he puts these immortal truths on record in 
this book. But when we are asked about this pardon 
we must draw the answer from our own experience, be- 
cause the pardon purchased with blood has been sealed 
upon our conscience, and has given us peace and "joy 
in the Holy Ghost." Upon this personal knowledge 
our testimony must be based. We say the power of 
this gospel is seen in making the Christian purer and 
holier, until at last he is made perfect in Christ's image. 
How do we know it? The Scriptures affirm it. But 



22 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

where is our testimony corroborating the truth of God's 
holy word unless we experience this deliverence from 
the power and dominion of sin? 

What an august testimony to bear before the world ! 
Angels bend from their high places in order to hear it ; 
and the world in which we live holds us under their 
jeers and taunts if we do not act consistently with these 
high professions. For this reason, God converts men in 
all conditions of life. The King upon his throne is 
made a witness and the beggar on the street, that in all 
these walks of life men may testify to the riches and 
efficacy of divine grace. 

My brethren, this should be with us the main business 
and purpose of life. The first question which should 
come to every professing Christian is, whether this or 
that consists with his character as a child of God. We 
have no right to put our testimony under suspicion by 
being anywhere where a Christian ought not to be — by 
doing anything which a Christian ought not to do. Is 
the responsibility fearful ? Let us remember that it is 
also a blessed responsibility. The joy of life is found in 
its weighty trusts. It is worth little if we cannot testify 
to some truth, and throw out some principle which shall 
help our fellow-men on their ascending path from earth 
to heaven. Just because these responsibilities are so 
immense, they ought to be taken by us as a crown of 
glory. And we shall be upon the edge of the millenium 
when the church herself shall fully recognize the binding 
nature of her own vow of consecration ; when she shall 
consent to draw the line exactly as the world draws it, 
sharp and clear betwixt themselves and us. 

The second inference is, that the only hope of a perish- 
ing world is in the gospel of the grace of God. The refor- 
mation from external vices may bring relief to society 



THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 23 

from many ills which oppress it, but they work no radi- 
cal cure, even of these. The waters can be healed only 
in the fountain from which they flow. And let the un- 
converted man see how all practical difficulties are re- 
moved out of the way of his salvation. He says, with a 
strange orthodoxy availing himself of a truth which he 
detests, that he has no power to believe or repent and 
turn away from sin. Grant it ; but here is the power, 
in God if not in man ; and all that power is offered with- 
out reserve to those who will simply yield to its exer- 
cise. The sinner is conscious of power to resist God's 
truth. We ask that he shall cease this resistance, and 
not grieve the Holy Spirit by smothering his convictions 
of sin. It is true, there is no power in the unrenewed 
man to turn from sin to holiness ; but there is power in 
God, and the only hope for a world of sinners is, that 
they will become ' ' willing in the day of his power, ' ' and 
appear before his throne at last as the drops of the morn- 
ing dew. 



the changing world and the 
Unchanging God. 

BY REV. MOSES D. HOGE, D. D., 
Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va. 



"And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation 
of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. 
They shall perish, but thou remainest : and they all shall wax 
old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them 
up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy 
years shall not fail." — Heis. i. 10, u, 12. 

HERE we have disclosed to us in most impressive 
terms the contrast between the mutability of all 
created things and the unchanging God 

The earth, with its apparently firm foundations and 
the seemingly steadfast heavens, are declared to be alike 
unsubstantial. As they represent what is supposed 
to be most durable, there is something startling in the 
quiet assertion, "they shall be changed," "they shall 
perish." 

But if the pillared firmament can be shaken, if the 
great globe itself is to dissolve as an exhalation and 
vanish like a vision of the night, then the inference is 
irresistible that all that mortal men can construct by 
manual skill or mental force; that all the pageants of 
time and sense, that all the creations of genius and all 
the pomp and pride of human glory, are still more evan- 
escent. 

Nothing terrestrial bears the stamp of indestructibility. 
The things that are seen are temporal, and not only so, 
24 



THE CHANGING WORLD, ETC. 



25 



but instability is their characteristic even during their 
brief survival. 

It is so evident that this law of change is divinely 
decreed that we are impelled to inquire for what ends 
God fills human life with so much perturbation. This is 
my theme to-day — the ethics of change, the moral uses 
of vicissitude ; and I hope to show that the very fluc- 
tuations of our present state of being, that what we 
call the accidents that befall men ; that the crosses and 
disappointments which are so common, as well as the 
blessings that fill the heart with gratitude and joy — 
that these are so many instrumentalities by which God 
shapes and moulds human character, and by which 
he teaches men how so to use this present life as to 
be prepared for life eternal. The Scriptures assert that 
a life of continuous prosperity and success breeds false 
security, leads men to presume on the future and to 
forget God. "Because they have no changes, therefore 
they fear not God. ' ' They take what we call providence 
as the natural course of human events, and, gliding 
along on a smooth sea with prosperous gales, there is 
nothing to remind such that there is one who rides upon 
the clouds and directs the storm, and then at his will 
makes all calm again. 

So far as the fact is concerned that change character- 
izes human affairs, there is nothing that is more readily, 
and nothing that is more generally, admitted. In a 
great variety of ways the Scriptures announce this truth 
and try to impress it upon the memories and hearts of 
men. Sometimes they state the fact in plain, didactic 
language, and sometimes they use the most graphic and 
glowing figures, that by imagery and metaphor they may 
deepen the impression that the world is a world of per- 
turbation, and that God intends us to live in the midst 



26 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

of vicissitude. I find this stated in one short line which 
inspiration has put upon record : ' ' The fashion of this 
world passeth away. " " The pageant of this world 
passeth away ' ' like the plays performed on the drama- 
tic stage, where the scenery is perpetually shifting, where 
actors come and go, where there are representations of 
imaginary situations and delineations of imaginary char- 
acters and events, the one rapidly following the other, 
until the curtain drops and the play is over. ' ' All the 
world's a stage, " and the actors are the men and women 
whose smiles of joy and tears of woe make up the comedy 
or the tragedy of the fleeting show. And so time moves 
on until it runs its appointed round, and the great curtain 
drops on the drama of completed human history. 

We have the same truth announced under a different 
figure, where inspiration tells us that, "Here we have 
no continuing city." Many of the works of men pos- 
sess great permanence. The great capitals of Old 
World empires, with their stately temples, with their 
strong, triumphal arches, with their massive walls forti- 
fied by tower and bastion, with their gigantic granite 
amphitheatres — these were structures that seem to have 
been destined to defy the hand even of that greatest of 
all destroyers, time. And yet these cities became the 
prey of successive conquerors. Again and again they 
were captured and pillaged and desolated, and the ban- 
ners of successive victors waved in triumph over the 
towers that were deemed impregnable. At last decay 
and disintegration followed the ruthless work of the in- 
vader, and a mightier force laid those cities low, until 
the time has come when the very sites they once occu- 
pied is a matter of dispute. 

Antiquarians engage in long controversies as to the 
very places where these imperial cities stood, some a' 



THE CHANGING WORLD, ETC. 27 

them that bore the boastful name of ' ' Eternal. ' ' How 
will it be with the cities of the present generation? I 
shall not remind you of Macaulay's prediction of a man 
sitting in the midst of a vast solitude on a broken arch 
of London bridge and sketching the ruins of the cathe- 
dral of the world's metropolis. I have no predictions to 
make with regard to the doom of the mighty cities that 
now dominate the nations, and into which all the re- 
sources of power and influence seem to be concentrating ; 
cities by and by to rule the continents, and ultimately 
to rule the world. 

We see no signs of decay and dissolution in the sover- 
eign cities of the earth in the present time ; and yet there 
is a sense in which the old text is just as true of London 
and Paris and Berlin and New York and San Francisco as 
it was true of those cities of which I have just made 
mention, that ' ' Here we have no continuing city. ' ' The 
city may remain, but you and I must go. 

How few of the inhabitants of any city live in houses 
which they themselves built. The great majority of 
people occupy houses through which the representatives 
of successive generations have passed ; and with regard 
to those who built and who own the dwellings in which 
they live, they are but the temporary tenants. Pres- 
ently their children will sit at the head of the table and 
manage all the affairs of the household, and sometimes 
talk very tenderly and very kindly about what father 
and mother did in their day. We are only the transient 
inhabitants of the places we call home, and therefore it 
is true of us that "Here we have no continuing city." 
The very habitations endeared to us, it may be, by many 
hallowed associations, will fall first into the hands of our 
children and afterwards they will pass into the hands of 
utter strangers, and it may be that the very tradition 



28 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

will be lost as to who once lived there and as to who was 
the founder of the house. 

But it is not worth while, in the illustration' of ray 
theme, that I should ask you to indulge in retrospects. 
It is enough to invite you to give me the testimony of 
your present observation. What is it? It is this: that 
you see the inhabitants of any city with which you are 
familiar very rapidly changing. There is not a month 
that I do not meet with some one who visits this church 
who worshipped here, it may be, ten or twenty years 
ago. I hear the same old, sad story. They all say that 
it revives many pleasant memories to be within these 
walls again, but as they look over the congregation it is 
a new and strange one to them. It was only here and 
there that they recognized a face that they had ever seen 
before. There may be one man in this house, but not 
more than one, who heard the first sermon that I preached 
here. We constantly see changes in the people around 
us, whether we live in the town or the country. Last 
week you settled an account with a man, but you will 
never settle another account with him, and the reason is 
that he has gone to his last account. The other day you 
met with a man and you shook hands with him. You 
did not dream that that friendly pressure was the last. 
The other day a neighbor of yours moved into another 
residence. Well, since then you know he has moved 
again, and now he has found another home. It is the 
place we call the long home. A few Sundays ago one 
sat beside you in the church, and heard just what you 
heard. He listened to the same discourse to which you 
listened. He united in singing the same hymns of 
praise. He heard the sounds that mercy utters from the 
cross, but now no voice of invitation, no melody of Zion 
awakens one emotion. Nothing stirs the heart that lies 



THE CHANGING WORLD, ETC. 29 

so chill and still in the coffin, and no music penetrates 
that dull, cold ear of death. ' ' Here we have no continu- 
ing city." 

This is a fact that ought to do more than make us 
pensive ; it ought to remind us that the same changes 
we see in our friends they see in us. You meet a friend 
that you have not seen for several years, and, you do 
not tell him so, on the contrary, you avoid giving him 
any intimation of what you observe, but you are very 
much startled to see what a change time has made in 
him ; to see how white his hair has become, and how 
decrepit his form is, and how uncertain his movements 
are. Well, he looks at you, and just what is passing 
through your mind is passing through his. So we are 
all moving along on the same stream, and we are all 
moving along with exactly the same rapidity. You 
think people grow old a great deal faster than you do, 
but we are all borne upon the bosom of the same flood 
and with a common celerity. None of us have it in 
our power to look up as Joshua did and say: "Sun, 
stand thou still ' ' until I complete this grand enterprise 
to which my heart is linked, and to which my life is 
consecrated. Alas ! we cannot lengthen out the short 
allotted span, no matter how intense may be the desire 
to live, no matter how impassioned may be the longing 
to complete the chosen task. Nothing can turn back by 
one degree the dark shadow that moves with dread cer- 
tainty over life's dial. We have no continuing city. 

Again the figure changes, and the Bible reminds us 
that " life is a day," not like a long, lingering, summer 
day; rather like a crisp, winter day, bright but brief. 
You watch the delicate flush of dawn, and it almost 
brings tears into the eyes to see the tender grace and 
sweetness of the early summer morning. By and by 



30 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the landscape grows brighter and the heavens more 
brilliant, and the sun goes up to its zenith ; but it does 
not stand there in the mid-heaven, for presently it begins 
to decline, and by and by it goes down with a sombre, 
mellow glory, not so bright and not so cheery as the 
morning ray, but with a pensive glory it goes down to 
its western bed, and then the evening comes. So in- 
fancy is that tender break of day ; that sweet, bright 
dawn ; but how quickly infancy merges into youth, and 
how soon youth matures into middle age. Then, when 
middle age comes, how swift the decline and how soon 
the shadows of evening and the cold dews begin to settle 
around us. Then comes the night, "in which no man 
can work." 

Again the figure changes, and we are told that life is 
like the "troubled sea." If there is anything whatever 
that is an impressive emblem of life, it is the sea with 
its unrest ; the sea with its perpetual moan ; the sea that 
is always changing its face — bright and blue when the 
heaven is clear above, black and ominous when clouds 
darken the sky ; sometimes sleeping in a deceitful calm, 
and then, at the wind's voice, waking into fury ; the sea 
with its tides ebbing and flowing through its mighty 
heart, and with resounding surge washing the shores of 
all continents. Oh ! what an emblem this is of human 
life ! Life, with its surprises and fluctuations, with its 
uncertainties and perpetual perturbations. 

I do not know of anything that is seen, or that has 
been created, that does not bear the impress of change 
and decay. This is true of all the works of men to 
which I have made reference ; but there are some works 
of men that are far more permanent than great cities, 
than triumphal arches, than colossal columns. It is a 
great mistake to think that these things represent what 



THE CHANGING WORLD, ETC. 31 

is most enduring in the world. There is the kingdom 
of mind — the kingdom of mind that outlasts matter — 
the triumphs of mind, and the structures that genius 
rears which are far more enduring than those that the 
architect can ever erect. See how the intellects of men 
have been held spell-bound in unquestioning obedience 
to the great philosophies that in turn have subjugated 
thought and given direction to the ethical beliefs of man- 
kind ; the philosophies of Plato, of Aristotle, of Epicurus, 
and the successive philosophies which have displaced 
them in modern times — the one chasing the other like 
shadows over a plain. Sir Walter said one day, as he 
looked at a painting and shook his head : "A painter is 
mistaken if he thinks that by a picture he can perpetuate 
his fame." Said he, "No man can perpetuate his fame 
in that way, because the picture fades and the canvas 
upon which it is painted by and by crumbles. The only 
thing that endures is literature." My friends, I do not 
know of a more sad mistake than that. With the excep- 
tion of a few of the classic Greek and Roman writers, 
whose pure style, like the pure air of Egypt, keeps bright 
and fresh the colors of the interiors of their tombs, there 
is nothing more ephemeral than literature. The very 
art of printing, which preserves all other arts, will by 
and by make literature an impossibility so far as immor- 
tality is concerned, because of the very multiplication of 
those products of the human intellect. Go into the great 
libraries of London, or Paris, or St. Petersburg, or in 
some of the American cities, and you see nothing more 
sad than those vast shelves crowded with the works of 
men that once commanded the attention of their genera- 
tion, but their books lie as unnoticed as mummies in 
Egyptian tombs. There they lie embalmed, without the 
possibility of a resurrection. A great library is a mau- 



2,2 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

solemn of dead thought. Therefore, there is no hope of 
obtaining anything like a permanent renown, even 
through that long-surviving influence. 

When we come to science, we think if there is anything 
that is settled and fixed we will find it there. Not so ; 
there is as much fluctuation in science as there is in 
general literature. A text-book that was an authority 
twenty years ago, is only worth the price that the buyer 
of old paper would give for it ; and what are called the 
exact sciences are so inexact that a book on geology or 
chemistry that was printed ten years ago is worthless 
now and everywhere rejected. 

But there is one thing far more permanent than the 
noblest creations of genius, and that is nature ; but na- 
ture itself is not an exception to the law of change. 
Look at the mountain, look at the sea, and you say, 
"There is something over which time has no influence." 
Wait a bit. A man comes, we will say, from the Old 
World. He emigrates in his boyhood to this country, 
and after a lapse of fifty years he has a great longing to 
go back and see his native village. He has a thousand 
tender memories about it, and thinks if he could only 
«ee that village once more he would be willing to leave 
the world satisfied. He makes the trip and finds the 
place. Almost at the first glance he says to himself: 
"I am disenchanted." What an air of desolation and 
loneliness rests over the place. He walks about and 
does not recognize a single face as one he ever saw be- 
fore. He walks about, and people cast careless glances 
at him as they would at any stranger, but nobody looks 
at him a second time. He goes to the house where he 
was born, but it is not tenanted now; it is a ruin. And 
then he says, "Well, there is one place where I can go 
and get comfort. I will go to the little spot sacred to 



THE CHANGING WORLD, ETC. 33 

the memory of the loved and lost. ' ' He goes there, and 
finds the enclosure broken down. He finds the graves 
grown over with weeds and briers. He finds the head- 
stone lying some distance from the grave and broken in 
two ; and there is not a place in the world that looks 
more desolate and lonely. Nobody ever visits that spot 
now; it is a dolorous solitude. Once affection lingered 
and wept there, but now all the sighs that are heard 
there are the sighs of the night wind through the droop- 
ing willows, and the only tears are the cold dews that 
trickle down the broken marbles. ' ' Well, ' ' he says, ' ' all 
this is changed, but nature is not changed." He looks 
around, and there is the old familiar river, and there are 
the hills that look just as they did when he last saw 
them. He says, "Thank God that I find something 
that is not changed"; and yet, my friends, that is a 
superficial observation. The whole physical globe is 
undergoing a perpetual change. The close observer 
notices how the coasts of some continents are rising, and 
how the shores of others are depressed. The close ob- 
server sees how the ocean now sweeps over vast tracts 
that once were cultivated, and how others that were once 
submerged form the homes of busy men. The perpetual 
mountains crumble, and the everlasting hills bow as 
they are disintegrated by frost and fire, by the action of 
the wasting storms and wearing streams. Therefore, 
we should not be surprised at the statement made in the 
text: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the 
foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works 
of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest; 
yea, all of them shall wax old as doth a garment; 
as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall 
be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall 
not fail." 
3 



34 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Therefore, when we come to inquire into the moral 
uses of vicissitude, and what is the grand purpose for 
which God has placed us in a world of such mutation, 
we can give briefly, in closing, this answer: it is that 
we may fix our thoughts and hopes upon something 
that is both permanent and satisfying. 

There are other uses at which we may glance, but this 
should arrest our supreme regard. 

In the fifty-fifth Psalm there is a most pathetic pic- 
ture. Old King David, wearied with the cares of office, 
is sitting on the flat roof of his house one evening. He 
has taken off his crown. It is too heavy, and he has 
laid it down upon the parapet. He has laid his sceptre 
at his feet, and sits there and sighs : ' ' Would I were a 
shepherd lad again. O, that the innocence and sweet- 
ness of my early life might come back to replace the 
pomp and the burdensome cares of empire. ' ' Then he 
looked up and saw a little flock of doves flitting across 
the sky, their soft plumage glancing in the sun, growing 
dimmer as they recede, until they reach the western 
hills, and he said, "O that I had wings like a dove, for 
then I would fly away and be at rest. O for rest! 
Rest!" 

Vastly mistaken is the man who compares himself to 
a noble oak, striking its roots deep into the earth, with 
its great strong branches shooting upwards, upon which 
the storms of heaven break when they strike it. Man 
has no such permanence, no such independence. He is 
more like a vine which has to grow upon a massive wall 
or upon a strong pillar, otherwise it trails upon the 
ground and perishes. The worst thing a vine can do is 
to trail around another vine. Both will fall, and, locked 
in fatal embrace, will perish. If a vine becomes fruit- 
ful, it must be trained to a pillar 01 a wall. Ah, so it 



THE CHANGING WORLD, ETC. 35 

was with that great and yearning heart of David that 
sought rest. He was taught to say: "Put not your 
trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom is no 
help ; his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ; 
in that very day his thoughts perish." "In that very 
day man returneth to his earth ' ' ; the earth that is his 
because he came out of it and goes back to it ; " earth to 
earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. " "In that very day 
his thoughts, ' ' no matter how original, how lofty or how 
profound — it may be thoughts too tender or too delicately 
personal to be expressed — nevertheless, "In that very 
day his thoughts perish." 

Again. If we ask, then, for the ethics, the religious 
lessons of change, another answer is that God has placed 
us in the midst of these perturbations to keep our life 
from becoming stagnant. If there was no change we 
would all become imbecile. I say if there was no change 
in the intellectual world, men would, by and by, drivel 
into impotence. Change is necessary to stir up and 
quicken and freshen life, just as thunder and storm are 
necessary to purify the sultry, stifling air. If it were 
not for these vicissitudes there would be no intellectual 
and no spiritual development. Change is God's bene- 
diction to humanity. No man knows what he can do 
until he is put in a new situation that calls forth his 
energies. No man knows the resources that slumber 
within himself until the exigency comes that wakes 
them into efficiency. So God puts adversity and pros- 
perity in the world to balance each other and to disci- 
pline and develop what is best in man. 

Another reason why we are placed in such a world of 
change is to keep us from presuming on the future. 
You remember the description that one of the evange- 
lists gives us of the world's fool of the first magnitude — 



36 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the greatest fool whose biography has been written — who 
said, " Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many- 
years, eat, drink and be merry," as if the soul could be 
nourished by what grows in the vineyard and the field. 
The fool uttered a soliloquy, but there were two voices. 
It was a dialogue ; another speaker broke in and said : 
' ' This night, ' ' not in some future year, but ' ' this night, 
thy soul shall be required of thee." 

Again. Life's changes teach us to avoid the perils of 
both prosperity and adversity. Do you know the dan- 
ger of too much success, of a life of uninterrupted pros- 
perity? You say, selfishness and indifference to the 
interests and happiness of others. It is all that, but 
another danger of too much prosperity is discontent. 
You thought I was going to say that is the danger of 
adversity ; but one danger of prosperity is discontent. 
The most discontented men on earth are those who roll 
in riches and do not know how to make their investments 
or how to keep their accumulations. The most discon- 
tented women on earth are women living in a super- 
abounding luxury that enervates and surfeits without 
satisfying. In their discontent they utter more com- 
plaints and murmurs in a single day than the poor 
woman who, stitch by stitch, makes her livelihood in 
the garret where she toils for her daily crust. 

The danger of adversity is doubt — doubt of God's pro- 
vidence, and finally a denial that there is any providence — 
until at last the person says : "I am no worse than 
other people, but God seems to think so. He afflicts 
me, and I do not have anything but trouble. I doubt 
whether there is any providence at all. " And so blank 
denial of a fundamental truth is the result of too much 
adversity. 

On the otner hand, while prosperity has its dangers, 



THE CHANGING WORLD, ETC. 



37 



it opens the way for the cultivation of graces which 
otherwise would not exist. If there were no prosperity, 
where would be room or possibility for humility and for 
self-denial ? The only man who can deny himself is the 
prosperous man; the only one who ever really denies 
himself is the man of abundance. The poor man is all 
the while compelled to live a life of self-denial ; but the 
man of abundance can voluntarily choose such a life, and 
so cultivate a grace that would otherwise be impossible. 
Where there is no trial there can be no trust. Where 
there is no bereavement there can be no resignation. 
Where there is no disappointment there can be no hope, 
for how can one hope for what he already possesses? 
How can the graces of love, joy, peace and holy aspira- 
tion grow if they are never exercised ? The vicissitudes 
of life are the divinely ordained instrumentalities by 
which God disciplines men and develops their truest and 
noblest Christian manhood. 

Lastly. Experience and revelation unite in teaching 
that the soul must have some foundation on which to 
build and rest secure, which is not subject to mutation ; 
something as enduring as its own immortality, and as 
satisfying as its capacities for happiness. But this it 
cannot find either in the material or intellectual creations 
of men — not in the noblest or most enduring of them ; it 
cannot find it in human love, however pure and con- 
stant ; it cannot find it in wealth or fame or power ; it 
cannot find it in nature, whose well-ordered harmonies 
seem sweet and unvarying as the song of the morning 
stars. 

Where, then, is the foundation on which the deathless 
soul may erect its immortal hopes and find its eternal 
rest and peace and blessedness? The answer comes, all 
else must change and pass away, "but thou re- 



38 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULriT. 

mainest." God is the soul's infinite necessity, the 
soul's eternal satisfaction. He alone is immutable. He 
cannot be changed by anything that is without, for there 
is nothing external to himself which he did not create. 
Creatures possess no powers which he did not confer on 
them, and he never formed anything that was capable of 
harming himself. Therefore, he can be changed by 
nothing from without. Nor from anything within. Be- 
ing self-existent, he is dependent upon none for his life. 
Being perfectly happy, he can never wish to be anything 
but what he is. Being omnipotent, he has power to be 
what he wishes to be ; and being eternal, he can be what 
he wishes to be forever. A being infinitely blessed can 
desire no change, for were there any height of happiness 
or glory above him he would not be infinite. 

Through the measureless eternity he will sit upon his 
throne in the unimpaired greatness of his supremacy. 
So perfect is he that the flight of unnumbered ages will 
not behold the kindling of another beam in his immeas- 
urable glory, nor will the flight of unnumbered ages 
behold amid these glories one ray, now beaming, 
quenched. 

The greatest change ever made in a human life is 
sometimes caused by a single bereavement, and yet the 
sorest bereavement may be so sanctified as to become the 
greatest benediction. There are losses which leave the ' 
soul so desolate, so emptied of every earthly joy, that it 
cries out after God with an intense and impassioned 
longing never felt before. Were there no God to help, 
its desolation would deepen into despair. 

One way, then, by which the soul learns to know God 
is through its own great necessities which he alone can 
satisfy. Were we never in trouble we never could know 
what a loving Father he is. Did we shed no bitter tears 



THE CHANGING WORLD, ETC. 39 

we never could know how soft the hand that wipes them 
away. If bereavement never caused our hearts to bleed, 
we could never know how gentle the hand is that binds 
them up. Our sorrows teach us that he can comfort 
with more than a mother's tenderness. When we taste 
the wormwood and the gall, and thus suffer the experi- 
ence of the bitterness of sin, then we can sing, 

" Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, 
Which before the cross I spend " ; 

or, changing the measure, as we emerge from the dark- 
ness, we can prolong the song in strains like these : 

"The opening heavens around me shine 
With beams of sacred bliss, 
When Jesus shows his heart is mine, 
And whispers, I am his." 

Then the soul's wish for wings like a dove's is satis- 
fied. It fluttered a moment against the window, and 
then a friendly hand reached forth and took it into the 
gospel ark, there safely to abide and sweetly to rest with 
the life hid with Christ in God, preparatory to the time 
when a nobler rest shall be enjoyed in the place where 
the discipline of vicissitude will be needed and known no 
more, and where the only change will be from one de- 
gree of glory to another as the soul advances in endless 
conformity to the divine image of purity and blessedness 
in the eternal kingdom of the Father. 

' ' I shall behold thy face in righteousness ; I shall be 
satisfied with thy likeness." 

"O long-expected day, begin." 



"ONE JESUS." 



BY J. HENRY SMITH, D. D. 
Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, N. C. 



"Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought 
none accusation of such things as I supposed : but had certain 
questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, 
which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." — Acts xxv. 
18, 19. 

THE text occurs in that part of the Acts where St. 
Luke is recording the statement which the Roman 
governor, Festus, made of Paul's case to the Jew- 
ish prince, Agrippa. Agrippa and Bernice, his sister, 
had come to Csesarea, where the Roman governor re- 
sided, to salute Festus, the recently appointed successor 
to Felix. This Agrippa was the son of the Herod whose 
miserable death is recorded in the twelfth chapter. He 
was a young man of only sixteen years of age at the 
time of his father's death, and was living, or going to 
school, as we would say, in the city of Rome, and enjoy- 
ing there the friendship and patronage of the emperor 
Claudius, who was a sort of guardian of the young Jew- 
ish prince. In the course of the next ten or fifteen 
years, by successive grants from the Emperor Claudius 
and afterwards from Nero, Agrippa had obtained a large 
portion of his father's kingdom, though not the province 
of Judea. He was familiar with the Jewish laws from 
his youth, and had adopted the tenets of the Pharisaic 
sect. Josephus says, "He was a zealous Jew, at least 
externally, but not very popular on account of his 
heathen education and residence in Rome, and his equi- 
40 







if,- 




*$**'■■- 




JL ^^^B 













"ONE JESUS." 41 

vocal and somewhat neutral position between Jews and 
Gentiles." 

At the time of Agrippa's visit to Cesarea, sixteen 
years had passed away since his father's awful death 
there, and he was now thirty-two years of age. Festus, 
the new Roman governor, took advantage of this visit of 
Agrippa to consult him as one likely to feel more inter- 
est, and to be much better informed than himself on the 
points in question in the case of the man left in bonds 
by Felix. He recited, therefore, to Agrippa what had 
taken place, and remarked that nothing of the kind that 
he had been led to expect had appeared at the trial, that 
is, they brought no charge of legal or moral wrong as 
distinguished from mere error of opinion, but, said Fes- 
tus, they differ with the prisoner on certain questions of 
Jewish theology or worship, and especially about one 
Jesus, now dead, whom Paul, the prisoner, however, 
affirms to be alive. 

These two words of Festus, "one Jesus," I select as 
the text, or rather as suggesting the theme of my sermon. 

As it regards this Roman official, I infer from the 
language of Jewish and other historians, that Festus was 
an upright as well as an active magistrate, and in perso- 
nal character he was a very much better man than his 
predecessor, Felix. But we have here to do with his 
language respecting Jesus Christ. ' ' One Jesus. ' ' How 
strangely now sound these words of Festus as we read 
or repeat them in the light of this age and in this period 
of the world and of the Christian church ! ' ' Certain 
questions of one Jesus. ' ' 

Festus, probably, was unable to understand why a 
difference of opinion about this Jew, Jesus, dead or 
alive, could be so important and so enlist their feelings. 
But this much is apparent and indisputable, that though 



42 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Festus did not see from his Roman and heathen stand- 
point why such a question or such a difference of opinion 
between Paul and the Jewish elders and priests should 
be of such importance, yet both Paul and the Jews did 
manifestly so regard it. Festus saw clearly that the 
whole exciting controversy and the main topics of con- 
troversy were questions about "one Jesus" — who he 
was and what had become of him. This question, which 
both Paul and the Jews considered a question of vast and 
vital importance, Festus, just because he was an unen- 
lightened heathen, thought very trivial and insignifi- 
cant. To him it was passing strange, utterly unaccount- 
able, that Paul, an eminent and educated Jew, and a 
Roman citizen, too, by birth, should be willing to risk 
everything and life itself to maintain his views of Jesus, 
and that the Jews of the highest position in church and 
state be equally ready and anxious to assassinate him 
because of these opinions and his conduct in avowing 
and maintaining them. But the Roman and heathen 
magistrate was ignorant and mistaken. Neither Paul 
nor the Jewish officials exaggerated or over-estimated the 
importance and far-reaching influence of these questions. 
It is utterly impossible to exaggerate their importance. 
The question about this Jesus is a great one — important 
now as ever — the greatest ever discussed on earth by 
mortal man. And the reason why it is so great a ques- 
tion is that the person about whom the question is raised 
is great, and the issue or effect of this question upon 
one's eternal destiny is great — great beyond the power 
of human thought or language adequately to conceive 
or to express. 

It is worthy of special note that for ages upon ages 
this question has grown in interest and felt importance 
as the years have rolled by. In the present age the un- 



"ONE JESUS." 43 

believing mind has been looking upon and studying this 
very question, and with nothing at all of the careless in- 
difference that characterized these Roman officials. This 
question now agitates the mind of the civilized world 
more than any other. 

It is strange and interesting, too, to look through the 
book of Acts and see how carelessly, if not contemptu- 
ously, all these men, Roman officials of high position 
and influence, wave away, as beneath their notice, so 
trifling a matter as these questions in dispute between 
Paul and his fellow-religionists as to this. Jesus whenever 
the subject is brought before them. How differently the 
matter looked to a spectator in the middle or latter half 
of the first century and in the middle or latter half of the 
present nineteenth century ! Yes, at that day and, alas, 
often still, worldly politicians, statesmen, so-called, high 
in office, clothed with great pomp and power, think or 
speak and write very lightly of events into which angels 
desire to look — events which fill heaven with rapture, 
and which will be the theme of grateful and adoring 
praises from multitudes which no man can number for- 
ever and forever. Well, just as with the rest, so it was 
with Festus. Says he to Agrippa, "When this man's 
accusers stood up, they brought no accusation of such 
things as I supposed : but had certain questions against 
him about their own Jewish religion and worship, and 
about one Jesus. ' ' And now I repeat with all possible 
emphasis, is this question as to Who and what Jesus is 
a small or trivial matter? Let us consider it as the later 
Scriptures and human history illustrate the person and 
work and dignity of Jesus Christ. 

I say, then, (i), That merely as a human personage in 
this world's history, Jesus is great — great as a man, great 
as a teacher of men, great as a reformer of morals, reli- 



44 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

gion and civilization. I cannot, of course, enlarge upon 
this as I would wish, for the three-fold view which I 
merely indicate would afford rich material for more than 
an entire discourse. 

But let us look at it a while. I deliberately affirm 
that the life and teachings of Christ divide the morals, 
the religion, the sentiments and the civilization of the 
world, and have been doing it ever since his public teach- 
ing in Galilee and Judea. Who is Jesus? Thirty years 
he spent in Nazareth, a poor village not once mentioned 
in the Old Testament or in Josephus. The New Testa- 
ment makes no secret of the place which Jesus occupied 
in the social scale. He was of humble birth and connec- 
tions, working at the trade of a carpenter, in a private 
and obscure life. For three years he ministered and 
taught publicly in Jerusalem, but chiefly in the rural 
settlements and in several of the obscurer towns and vil- 
lages of Galilee, [and then he suffered death by cruci- 
fixion. And yet his thoughts and words have been the 
inspiration and incentive that has educated and devel- 
oped men and nations, and produced whatever of real 
culture and civilization the past ages and the present 
possess and enjoy, enkindling hopes of still better in 
the wider spread and heartier reception and influence of 
his teachings. As a reformer of faith, of morals, of re- 
ligion, of life, of men, of society and of nations, what 
name and character has been and is to-day so influential 
and mighty as the name of Jesus ? He left behind him 
a few spoken words ; he never wrote a line. And if all 
the repetitions, or records of the same events and dis- 
courses, in the four Gospels were omitted, the entire and 
continuous record that would remain would be but a few 
pages. And while the heroes, statesmen, poets and 
philosophers of Athens or of Rome, her emperors and 



ONE JESUS. 45 

soldiers, or this man Festus, his predecessors and succes- 
sors are dead — yes, doubly dead and gone, so far as pre- 
sent and living power and influence and love and venera- 
tion are concerned, Jesus Christ is to-day exalted in the 
very loftiest niche of admiration and veneration by mil- 
lions upon millions to whom he is dearer than life. Of 
all lives ever lived, the most influential confessedly as a 
man, as a teacher, as a reformer, was the life of this 
Jesus. Such is the testimony of the centuries. There 
is absolutely nothing like it in the whole history of the 
world. The uninspired pages of history attest it. 

(2), But further, this Jesus is great because he is the 
cent? al subject of the entire Bible. The Jewish nation, its 
purpose, its history, its guidance and its Bible, was to 
prepare the way of "one Jesus." The whole of it — the 
nation's history and the nation's Bible — like John the 
Baptist, was the voice of one crying in a wilderness 
world, ' ' Prepare ye the way of the Lord ! ' ' His person, 
his character, his mission, his life and death, is the 
theme that explains all. Narrative, history, genealogy, 
prophecy, sacrifices, ablutions, parables, miracles — all 
point to and illustrate the name and work of Jesus. 
The light of truth and mercy and hope, the light of grace 
and salvation, the light of the Old Testament, the light 
of the New Testament, the light of all their teachings to 
guide, to console, to cheer, to sanctify and to save, the 
light of all hope for man's future here and forever, all 
comes from this Jesus, well called in prophecy and by 
himself, "the Light of the world," "the Sun of righte- 
ousness." The natural sunlight and color, the varie- 
gated and radiant beauty that glows all over the face of 
the earth, that glitters from the rippling water, that 
paints the leaves and foliage and flowers of spring-time 
and summer, that sparkles on the dew drops, that 



46 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

colors the evening sky with entrancing beauty and 
splendor, is not more dependent upon the sun in the 
heavens than is the light and beauty and blessedness 
of the Bible, its histories, teachings and prophecies de- 
pendent upon Jesus. The prime, rnain object of the 
Scriptures is to describe and set forth the Mediator, Jesus 
Christ, and his work and kingdom of grace and glory 
here and hereafter. "The testimony of Jesus is the 
spirit of prophecy; " that is, the grand end and scope of 
all revelation is to bear witness concerning "one Jesus." 
(3), But further, this Jesus is great because of his 
great, his transcendent work of ato?ieme?it and redemption. 
By the atonement we mean Christ's satisfying divine 
justice by his suffering and death in the place of sinners. 
The direct and central design and effect of Christ's death 
was to propitiate the principle of justice in the divine 
nature. He has satisfied all the demands of law upon 
which the favor and fellowship of God were suspended. 
This he did by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of him- 
self which he offered up unto God. How clearly is this 
stated and reiterated by St. Paul and by all the New 
Testament writers. ' ' Being justified freely by his grace, 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom 
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in 
his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission 
of sins ; that he (God) might be just and the justifier of 
him that belie veth in Jesus." Contemplate for a while 
the priesthood of Christ — himself as priest offering himself 
as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to 
God. It is the grandest thought and the most vital and 
precious truth of revealed religion ! It is, without doubt, 
the sublimest event in the annals of time or the records 
of eternity. The death of Jesus Christ was peculiar. 
It was not a providential event to which he was sub- 



"ONE JESUS." 47 

jected as you or I are subjected. It was a priestly act 
which he achieved. He died as a triumphant agent or 
actor ; he prevailed against death to live until ha himself 
said, " It is finished, ' ' and then bowed his head in as- 
sent and died — died not merely voluntarily, but by posi- 
tive priestly action giving himself to God. The cross 
is itself and justly styled a ' ' chariot of triumph. ' ' 

Looked at from another point of view, what a spirit of 
sublime devotion to God and of self-sacrifice for man 
does the cross and death of Jesus display ! The position 
of Jesus was unparalleled, exceptional and transcen- 
dency sublime. Standing before the altar, he confesses 
the guilt of his brethren, glorifies the divine justice, 
honors and magnifies the law of God (the very law that 
dooms them to woe and requires him to suffer), as- 
sumes the sinner's place, acknowledges the demands of 
truth and righteousness, adores the divine character and 
lays down his life — body and soul — as a ransom and 
atonement for theirs upon the altar; freely and volun- 
tarily "does and suffers all this, rather than that guilty 
and miserable man should perish, or that the divine 
government should be insulted with impunity." 

Festus never heard, never uttered a name so signifi- 
cant, so rich, so suggestive of goodness and greatness, 
as the name of " one Jesus." Why, at the time he care- 
lessly repeated this name, and for ages upon ages since, 
and in all the ages forever to come, 

' Floods of everlasting light 

Freely flash before him ; 
Myriads, with supreme delight, 

Instantly adore him ; 
Angelic trumps resound his fame, 

Lutes of lucid gold proclaim 
All the music of his name ; 

Heaven echoing the theme. 



48 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Sweetest sound in seraph's song, 
Sweetest note on mortal's tongue, 
Sweetest carol ever sung, 
Jesus, — Jesus, — Jesus! " 

(4), But, again, this Jesus is great in his person and 
nature as the inca? nate Son of God. For this Jesus was 
Immanuel, God incarnate, God with us. St. John terms 
him as he announces him as the subject of his Gospel, 
"The Word of God" — God's utterance to man. God 
speaks to the world through Jesus over and above what 
he speaks in nature. I readily admit and maintain that 
God speaks in nature. In its scenery, processes, pro- 
ductions ; in its very silence God speaks to his rational 
offspring, and speaks intelligently and impressively. 
God speaks in providence, in its operations, ordinary and 
extraordinary — in its history and its laws. God speaks 
in the very nature and constitution of man ; in the pro- 
ducts of his intellect, his imagination and his tastes, in 
the achievements of science and art, in the creations of 
human genius, and in all the utterances of human wis- 
dom and piety, God speaks. But once, only once, in all 
time, the Godhead tabernacled in flesh. 

' ' One night while lowly shepherd swains 
Their fleecy charge attended, 
A light burst o'er Judea's plains 
Unutterably splendid. 

' Far in the dusky Orient 

A star, unknown in story, 
Arose to flood the firmament 
With more than morning glory. 

"For heaven drew nearer earth that night — 
Flung wide its pearly portals- 
Sent forth from all its realms of light 
Its radiant immortals. 



"ONE JESUS." 49 

"They hovered in the golden air, 
Their golden censers swinging, 
And woke the drowsy shepherds there 
With their seraphic singing." 

The word was made flesh, dwelt in our nature, and 
from within this marvellous veil gave forth its holy and 
grand announcements. In the person of Jesus God 
speaks ; through his life and in his life as he speaks- 
nowhere else. The first, the lowest, but yet also the 
last and highest duty of the world is to listen and be- 
lieve. The command to all ages and to all men is to 
listen and believe. That command was given of old 
in Palestine from the open sky beneath which ' ' one 
Jesus" was standing, and the words are echoing to- 
day, "This is my beloved Son; hear ye him." And 
adds St. Peter in the second recorded sermon in the 
Acts : ' ' Hear him in all things whatsoever he shall 
say unto you, for every soul that will not hear him 
shall be destroyed. ' ' 

(5), But further, this Jesus, of whom the heathen 
Festus spoke so carelessly, is great because at that very 
moment he was and is now ' ' Head over all things for 
his body the church." He was at that moment in 
which Festus uttered the flippant words, "one Jesus," 
at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, ' ' angels 
and authorities and powers being made subject unto 
him" — aye, more, "Far above all principality and 
power and might and dominion, and every name that 
is named, not only in this world but also in that which 
is to come." Fvery event that was then occurring, or 
that is now occurring, great or small, until his second 
coming, did occur, is occurring, and will occur only by, 
with and under the consent or direction or control of the 
mediatorial providence of this same Jesus. 
3 



50 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

"Rejoice, the Saviour reigns, 

The God of truth and love ; 
When he had purged our stains, 

He took his seat above. 
Lift up the heart, lift up the voice ; 
Rejoice aloud, ye saints, rejoice. 

"His kingdom cannot fail ; 

He rules o'er earth and heaven. 
The keys of death and hell 
Are to our Jesus given. 
Lift up the heart, lift up the voice; 
Rejoice aloud, ye saints, rejoice." 

(6), But further, this Jesus about whom this Roman 
official spoke so slightingly, if not contemptuously, is 
great because he is to be the supreme and final judge and 
awarder of the everlasting destinies of men and angels. 
Festus himself, and every human being is to stand 
at the judgment seat of one Jesus and receive from 
his lips his everlasting and irrevocable doom. "The 
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg- 
ment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, 
even as they honor the Father. " "He hath appointed 
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness 
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath 
given assurance (J. e., indubitable evidence) unto all 
men by having raised him from the dead." Yes, my 
hearers, a day of searching and righteous investigation 
and judgment is coming, when each and all must stand 
before an omniscient and almighty judge, "one Jesus," 
who will "render to all according to their works." Oh! 
how terribly the tables will be turned, as 

" On that day, that dreadful day 
When man to judgment wakes from clay," 

Festus himself will recognize upon the throne in glori- 
ous and judicial majesty, that same Jesus, about whom, 



"one jesus." 51 

thirty years after his resurrection, the Jews and St. Paul, 
in his presence and before his Roman judgment seat, had 
disputed. Yes, he had heard them dispute the question 
(which he thought trivial and superstitious), whether 
one Jesus was dead or alive ; and there he beholds him 
on the throne, as supreme judge, assigning the destinies 
of the race. 

(7), But further and lastly : this Jesus is great be- 
cause such is his connection with the laws and govern- 
ment and throne of God, that every human being in the 
world (Festus, Agriftfia, Ber?iice, and you a?id I) must, 
of necessity, sustain a personal relation to him. We must 
be found ' ' in him ' ' partaking of his redemption and 
salvation, or "out of (and apart from) him," and under 
the bondage and curse of sin, and hopelessly and forever 
lost. No question is more personal, individual, impor- 
tant and momentous than the question, "What think 
ye of Christ ? ' ' 

This matter cannot be avoided or evaded. We must 
consider and settle it. It is like the question which 
Pilate, in his confusion, embarrassment and difficulty 
(how to dispose of Jesus), asked the Jews : ' ' What shall 
I do with Jesus?" Yes, this awful and mighty ques- 
tion, with all its issues for eternal life or for eternal 
death, each of us has to settle. How will you decide 
it ? Sooner or later, and often frequently, to every 
one comes the question which Pilate asked of the Jews, 
"What, then, shall I do with Jesus who is called the 
Christ?" If a man cares nothing for the principles of 
science or art, or takes no interest in politics, he sim- 
ply lets the subject alone. But this is a matter and a 
question which you cannot let alone, and which will not 
let you alone. It will be answered ; it must be an- 
swered, and it can be answered but in one of two ways. 



52 



SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PTLPIT. 



And no man can settle the matter for you. Each so-ul 
must make its own reply. Careless, indifferent hearer, 
do you think to evade replying to this all-important 
question while, and as long as, you live? I tell you, 
if you pass your life thus, you have already answered it 
unconsciously to yourself, it may be, but it has had your 
reply in the rejection of him. 

But when at the judgment you stand before him, the 
question then will not be, "What shall I do with 
Jesus ? ' ' The one thought will be " Oh ' what will he 
do with me ? ' ' 



THE GOSPEL CALL. 

BY G. D. ARMSTRONG, D. D., 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Va. 



"The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that 
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And 
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." — Revela- 
tion xxii. 17. 

NEAR the commencement of his public ministry, our 
Lord preached the gospel in the words : ' ' God so 
loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever belie veth in him should not perish 
but have everlasting life." (John iii. 16.) Many years 
afterwards, when his atoning sacrifice of himself had 
been accomplished upon Calvary, and God's acceptance of 
that sacrifice made known by his resurrection from the 
dead — when he was about to close his written revelation 
to his church, intended to be to her ever afterwards 
"the only infallible rule of faith," he again preached 
that gospel in the words of the text. I say, he preached, 
for in both of these passages alike, Jesus Christ is the 
preacher — John simply records what he heard. 

I. On both occasions our lord makes the offer 
OF SALVATION, full and free, to the whole world. 

On the first, he traces God's provision of salvation, 
everlasting life for the perishing, to his love for the 
world as its fountain head. "There is a deep sense in 
which God loves the world. All whom he has created 
he regards with pity and with compassion. Their sins 
he cannot love ; but he loves their souls. ' His tender 



54 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

mercies are over all his works.' (Psalm cxlv. 9.) 
Christ is God's gracious gift to the whole world." — 
Rylc. And this gracious gift, our Lord assures us, was 
made that ' ' whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." 

The second occasion was very different from the first, 
but the offer of salvation made is, if possible, more full 
and free than in the first. To understand its language, 
we must remember that it was spoken after the church 
had entered fully upon the discharge of her commission, 
' ' Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature" (Mark xvi. 15), and her labors had been 
crowned with abundant success through the power of 
the Spirit working in and with her, he who claimed 
for himself the title, "Jesus . . . the root and offspring 
of David, and the bright and morning star" (Rev. xxii. 
16), appeared to the aged John, and in the words of the 
text gives expression to his infinite satisfaction in the 
work which was being done. 

' ' The Spirit and the bride say, Come. " " The Spirit ' ' 
here spoken of is undoubtedly ' ' the spirit of truth ' ' who 
was to come in Christ's stead and "abide with the 
church forever" (John xiv. 16), and whose coming and 
power was manifested by the wondrous work wrought 
in Jerusalem on the first Christian pentecost ; and ' ' the 
bride," the church herself (see Rev. xxi. 2, 9) through 
her apostles, and evangelists, and pastors, and teachers 
(Eph. iv. n), given her for this very ministry. 

"A?id let him that heareth say, Come. ' ' When Stephen, 
the first Christian martyr, was stoned, we are told, "At 
that time there was a great persecution against the 
church which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scat- 
tered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Sama- 
ria, except the apostles, . . . and they that were 



THE GOSPEL CALL. 55 

scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. ' ' 
(Acts viii. 1-4.) These were not regularly ordained 
ministers of the gospel, but, in the language of our day, 
"private members of the church," with hearts filled 
with the love of Christ and the love of souls, who, driven 
by persecution into places where the gospel was un- 
known, told the story of the cross to all who were will- 
ing to listen. And so has it been ever since, especially 
in seasons of great revivals of religion ; not publicly and 
by her regularly ordained ministry alone, but privately, 
in the family and in the intercourse of daily life, godly 
men and women have been led by the Spirit to ' ' preach 
the word," and here Christ gives explicit sanction to 
this preaching. 

"And let him that is athirst come." These words re- 
mind us at once of the call of God by his prophet : ' ' Ho, 
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he 
that hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, 
buy wine and milk without money and without price." 
(Isaiah 1. 1.) The man athirst for the water of life is 
one who simply feels his need of salvation. There may 
be such, even in Christian communities, to whom no 
Christian minister has ever especially addressed himself, 
and to whom no Christian friend has ever spoken about 
the great salvation, who, by the Spirit "who worketh, 
when and where and how he pleaseth," has had awak- 
ened within him a desire to make all right between God 
and his soul. To him, Christ himself here speaks the 
word of invitation : ' ' And let him that is athirst come. ' ' 
And then, that no man can possibly think himself for- 
gotten or excluded from the invitation, he closes the 
gospel call in words which remind us at once of the 
terms in which he preached it near the commencement 
of his public ministry : "And whosoever will, let him take 



56 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the water of life freely." Surely, in no words which 
human language furnishes could the offer of salvation be 
made more full and free than in those which our Lord 
has chosen. 

II. The publication of this gospel, full and 
FREE AS OUR Lord himself made it, is, in the 

VERSES IMMEDIATELY SUCCEEDING THE TEXT, EN- 
JOINED UPON THE CHURCH IN TERMS OF AWFUL SOL- 
EMNITY. "I (/'• e., I, Jesus) testify unto every man 
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If 
any man shall add unto these things, God shall add un- 
to him the plagues that are written in this book ; and if 
any man shall take away from the words of the book of 
this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the 
book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things 
which are written in this book." (Rev. xxii. 18, 19.) 
Whether or not we understand these words, as many 
expositors do, as God's solemn seal attached to the holy 
Scriptures, proclaiming the revelation therein made com- 
plete and unalterable, there can be no doubt that they 
cover the case of the gospel call, as contained in the text, 
in immediate connection with which they were spoken. 
In the light shed upon this matter by the subsequent 
history of the church we can understand, in part, at 
least, the reason for this solemn warning. Strange and 
improbable as it might seem at first thought, it is just 
on this point— the freedom and fulness of the gospel 
offer of salvation— that the church to which the preach- 
ing of the gospel has been committed has shown the 
strongest disposition to tamper with God's truth — to 
limit the freedom of the gospel offer, or add to the one 
condition of salvation, "belief in the only begotten Son 
of God," which God has prescribed, other conditions of 
man's devising. 



THE GOSPEL CALL. 57 

i . Early in the history of the church in her Christian 
form, and while many of the apostles were yet living, 
we are told that, ' ' Certain men which came down from 
Judea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be cir- 
cumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. ' ' 
(Acts xv. 1) thus "adding to" the gospel as preached 
by Christ. It was to condemn this heresy that the 
' ' apostles and elders ' ' came together in the council at 
Jerusalem. From the days of Abraham the Jews had 
occupied the position of God's peculiar people, and 
it was not without a fierce struggle that Jewish pre- 
judice yielded to the clearly revealed truth that hence- 
forward "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth 
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." 
(Gal. vi. 15.) 

2. In later times the "church catholic," as she de- 
lights to call herself, both Greek and Roman, has taught 
that the reception of the sacraments, especially that of 
baptism, is necessary to salvation, in so doing confound- 
ing that which God has made necessary as a duty with 
that which he has made a condition of salvation, in the 
proper sense of that expression. And along with this 
and as an inseparable part of it, she has taught the doc- 
trine of "baptismal regeneration," i. <?., that regenera- 
tion, that great spiritual change which marks the begin- 
ning of the Christian life, is wrought ' ' en opore oporato, ' ' 
by the application of water to the body, thus preaching, 
"another gospel, which is not another, but a perversion 
of the gospel of Christ. ' ' 

3. A perversion of the gospel, of greater practical im- 
portance for us Protestants to consider, is that which the 
awakened sinner often falls into when refusing to un- 
derstand the gospel call in the plain sense of the words 
in which our Lord makes it, he insists that he must do 



58 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

something to fit himself for coming to Jesus ere he can 
venture to approach him as the Saviour of sinners. The 
truth expressed in the words of Peter, addressed to the 
Jewish rulers, "Him," i. e., Jesus, "hath God exalted 
with his right hand to be a prince and a Saviour, for to 
give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins " 
(Acts v. 31), is very humbling to the pride of man's 
heart, and therefore hard for him to receive. Ordinarily, 
it is not until the sinner has tried, and tried in vain, to 
"fit himself for coming to Jesus," that he learns intelli- 
gently to say, 

"Just as I am, without one plea 

But that thy blood was shed for me. 
And that thou bid'st me come to thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come. 

"Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind, 
Sight, riches, healing of the mind, 
Yea, all I need in thee to find, 
O Lamb of God, I come." 

III. If THE GOSPEL OFFER IS SO FREELY MADE AND 

the provisions of gospel grace so full, the ques- 
tion may be asked, how comes it that so many in 
Christian lands perish ? 

That many who have lived all their lives under the 
sound of the gospel faithfully preached, and have, at 
times, feit something of the power of that gospel, do 
perish, we cannot doubt, for our Lord expressly testifies, 
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the 
will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say 
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 
in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? 
and in thy name done many wonderful works? And 
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; de- 



THE GOSPEL CALL. 59 

part from me, ye that work iniquity. ' ' (Matt. vii. 21-23.) 
How is this to be accounted for ? and, more especially, 
how is this to be reconciled with the declaration, " God 
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world ; 
but that the world through him might be saved ' ' (John 
iii. 17), and with God's sincerity when he says, "As I 
live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death 
of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way 
and live ; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for 
why will ye die, O house of Israel ? ' ' (Ezek. xxxiii. 11.) 

In attempting to answer these questions we must re- 
member, (1), That the gospel is not a proclamation of 
universal salvation, but of salvation for "whosoever be- 
lieveth in the only begotten Son of God ' ' ; and (2), That 
God's dealings with his creatures are always in con- 
formity with the nature he has given them. Having 
made man an intelligent, free agent, he deals with him 
as such in matter which concern the salvation of his 
soul as well as in those which concern the well-being of 
his body. To the Jews, perishing under his perfect 
ministry, our Lord declares, "Ye will not come to me 
that ye might have life." (John v. 40.) 

Not many months ago a man was hanged in our midst. 
He had been fairly tried, and convicted of cold-blooded 
murder. Under the laws of Virginia, as well as under 
the law of God, "He that sheddeth man's blood, by 
man shall his blood be shed." A murderer, this man 
but suffered the righteous consequence of his own crime. 
He was ' ' hanged until dead ' ' by authority of law and 
by a public officer representing the Commonwealth of 
Virginia. In view of these facts would any one think, 
for a moment, of impeaching the righteousness of his 
execution, or of calling in question the claim on the part 
of the government of Virginia to be a truly paternal 



60 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

government, seeking the highest good of its subjects, 
and with laws wisely designed to secure that end? The 
relation of God to the death of the sinner who perishes 
under this our gospel dispensation, is fairly illustrated in 
the conduct of our Lord, " God manifest in the flesh," 
when, for the last time, approaching Jerusalem, he wept 
over it, saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that 
killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto 
thee, how often would I have gathered thy children to- 
gether, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
wings, and ye would not ! Behold, your house is left 
unto you desolate." (Matt, xxiii. 37, 38.) 

IV. IS NOT THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION, ESPECIALLY 
IN THE PRETERITION WHICH IT NECESSARILY IMPLIES, 
AS TAUGHT IN "THE CONFESSION OF FAITH," IRRE- 
CONCILABLE with God's sincerity in the gospel 

OFFER? 

If that doctrine were such as it is sometimes repre- 
sented, or, rather, misrepresented, to be by those who 
reject it, I think it would be. Not long ago I heard of 
a celebrated evangelist stating the case substantially as 
follows, viz. : "Suppose the case of a king making a 
great supper and inviting many guests, and then, at 
supper time, as the invited guests were all coming, 
causing his soldiers to seize them and tie them to trees 
in sight of the supper table ; and when this was done, 
sending out his steward to ring his bell and cry, ' Come 
to supper, come to supper.' What would be thought 
of the sincerity of the king's invitation in such circum- 
stances as these?" If this were a fair representation 
of the case, but one answer could be made to the ques- 
tion. But is it a fair representation? I answer, as- 
suredly, no. There is just enough of truth in it to make 
it the worst of slanders. 



THE GOSPEL CALL. 6 1 

i . It is true in so far as its representation of the help- 
less condition, by nature, of the sinner to whom the 
gospel call is addressed is concerned. The representa- 
tions of Scripture on this point are stronger than that of 
this evangelist. According to Scripture, the sinner is, 
by nature, not tied to a tree, but "dead in trespasses 
and sins." (Eph. ii. i.) God himself represented the 
work of preaching the gospel to his prophet, Ezekiel, in 
terms, if possible, more striking than those quoted above: 
' ' The Spirit of the Lord set me down in the midst of the 
valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass 
by them round about : and behold, there were very 
many in the open valley ; and, lo, they were very dry. 
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these dry bones 
live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. 
Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and 
say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the 
Lord." (Ezek. xxxvii. 1-4.) I find no fault with the 
representation of man's helpless condition by nature as 
that of one tied to a tree. It certainly is not so strong 
as that of Scripture. But, then, there is a question 
which lies back of this which needs to be answered, viz.: 

2. Who tied him there? His bonds, in part, at least, 
are the work of his own hands. Take the case of the 
drunkard, for example, and the Scriptures tell us that 
"no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God." 
(1 Cor. vi. 10.) His drunkenness, as long as it is per- 
sisted in, is an insuperable obstacle in the way of his 
"believing in the only begotten Son of God." Who 
made him the drunkard that he is? It is certain that 
God did not. His evil habit is his own work, and by its 
indulgence he is every day strengthening his bonds. 
And this which is true of drunkenness is true of all 
other sinful habits, e. g., of covetousness, of unbelief, 



62 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

and worldly lusts in all its forms. In so far as these are 
concerned, a man's bonds are unquestionably of his own 
making. 

But there is something back of all this, I will be told. 
The man was sin-ruined from his birth, as David con- 
fesses with respect to himself : "I was shapen in ini- 
quity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalm 
li. 5.) True ; but in no proper sense of that expression 
can it be said that God made him the sin-ruined creature 
he was born. We are all, not individuals only, but we 
are all members of families, and peoples, and races as 
well, and in many particulars God deals with us as such ; 
and man deals with his fellow-man on the same princi- 
ple. Adam, the federal as well as the natural head of 
our race, God made originally "in his own image, after 
his own likeness" (Gen. i. 26), "in knowledge, righte- 
ousness, and holiness," with ability perfectly to keep the 
law. But he, in the exercise of that free agency with 
which God endowed him, sinned against God, and as 
the righteous consequence of his sin, came under the 
curse, and this curse he has transmitted as an inheri- 
tance to all his descendants by natural generation. The 
Scripture record is, " And Adam begat a son in his own 
likeness" (Gen. v. 2), and so has it been with his de- 
scendants ever since. In this way it has come to pass 
that we are all "conceived in sin." In view of these 
facts, is it not a gross misrepresentation to speak of man 
as one bound to a tree by the king's soldiers, and so, 
virtually, by the king himself? 

3. The statement we are examining contains a still 
more radical misrepresentation of the truth in likening 
the gospel call to that of the king's steward proclaiming 
in the hearing of men bound to trees, " Come to supper, 
come to supper. ' ' Carrying out the figurative represen- 



THE GOSPEL CALL. 63 

tation adopted, the steward's call, if it is truly to represent 
the gospel call, ought to be : " Poor captive, let me loose 
thy bonds, that thou mayest come to the supper graci- 
ously provided for thee." One of the first records we 
have of our Lord's public preaching of the gospel is in 
the words: "And when he had opened the book, he 
found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the 
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach 
the gospel to the poor : he hath sent me to heal the 
broken-hearted, to preach delivcra?ice to the captives, and 
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them 
that are bruised" — the opening of the prison to them tliat 
are bound (Isa. lxi. i) — "To preach the acceptable year 
of the Lord . . . This day is this Scripture fulfilled in 
your ears." (Luke iv. 17-21.) At a later day, when 
discussing this very matter, he said to the Jews, in an- 
swer to their boast, "We be Abraham's seed, and were 
never in bondage to any man, how sayest thou, Ye 
shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the 

servant (bond-servant, Rev. Ver.) of sin If the 

Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free in- 
deed." (John viii. 33-35.) As our Lord himself 
preached the gospel, it is not a call to a bound captive, 
' ' Come to supper, come to supper, ' ' but, poor captive of 
sin and Satan, let me loose thy bonds that thou mayest 
come. 

4. One of the most subtile, and therefore, most dan- 
gerous forms which self-righteousness assumes in the 
heart of the awakened sinner is that expressed in the 
words, "I am not fit to come to Jesus." We must 
not confound worthiness with fitness to come to Jesus. 
Worthiness has reference to man's deservings. Jacob, 
on the very occasion on which God changed his name 



64 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

to Israel, because, " as a prince he had power with God, 
and with men, and prevailed," confesses, "I am not 
worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth 
which thou hast shown unto thy servant." (Gen. xxii. 
10.) Fitness has reference to what the occasion or cir- 
cumstances of the case require. And never was there a 
more fitting occasion for Jacob to ' ' wrestle ' ' with God 
than the very occasion on which he confesses his un- 
worthiness of the least of all his mercies, for then was 
he in an extremity in which God alone could help him. 

Does Christ present himself in the gospel as a physi- 
cian ? And art thou sick ? Then come to him that 
thou mayest be made whole. Thy very sickness makes 
it a fitting thing that thou shouldest come. Did Christ 
come "not to call the righteous but sinners to repen- 
tance?" (Matt. ix. 13.) And art thou a sinner? Then 
come to him, " For him hath God exalted with his right 
hand to be a prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance 
to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." (Acts v. 31.) Thy 
very need of ' ' repentance and forgiveness of sins ' ' 
renders it a fitting thing that thou shouldest come to 
him. 

Do not mistake the nature of the gospel grace given 
us in Christ Jesus, and in thy folly attempt to do that 
which God alone can do, and which, for Christ's sake, 
he stands ready to do for you. You have within you 
"a heart of stone," i. e., a heart feeling no genuine 
contrition for sin, no faith in the Lord Jesus, no love to 
God ; and by no determination of your own, by no effort 
of will, by no use of means can you ever change that 
heart of stone into one of flesh. If this work is ever 
accomplished, God must do it for you. And this is but 
a part of that which God proposes to do for you in the 
gospel, and what you need to come to him for. "A 



THE GOSPEL CALL. 65 

new heart, also, will I give you, and a new spirit will I 
put within you ; and I will take away the stony heart 
out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. 
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to 
walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, 
and do them." (Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.) 

The repentance, faith and love ; the contrite spirit, 
the believing mind, the loving heart, which, in their 
beginning at the least, make up the idea of fitness in the 
mind of him who says, ' ' I am not fit to come to Jesus, ' ' 
are all "fruits of the Spirit." (See Gal. v. 22, 23.) 
They are not excellences to be wrought out by the sinner 
in preparation for coming to Christ, but "gifts of God," 
bestowed through Christ and for Christ's sake upon the 
sinner who comes to him. Believe, then, that our Lord 
meant just what he said, and all that he said, when he 
cried : ' ' Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life 
freely." 



"WHAT IS THE CHAFF TO THE 
WHEAT?" 

BY REV. J. W. LUPTON, D. D., 
Pastor of ' t 'lie Presbyterian Church, Clarke sville, Jenn. 



" What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord." — Jeremiah 
xxiii. 28. 

WHATEVER the Lord saith is worthy of the at- 
tention of men. The word the Father writes 
in his letter is as important as the word he 
speaks. If God, from the open heavens, should ask 
each of us " What is the chaff to the wheat ? ' ' there 
would be a thrill of activity running through us. He 
does ask it, "What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the 
Lord. ' ' What is the outward hull of the body as com- 
pared with — the kernel — the deathless thing within? 
What is that which goes into the flame or is driven be- 
fore the wind as compared with that which is to be gar- 
nered in heaven or hell forever ? 

Let us try to answer God. 

The most prominent thought springing from the text 
in its relation to the context, is one for ministers of the 
gospel. Let each one, as he sits in his study or stands 
in the pulpit, weigh the question as it is related to verse 
one of the chapter, ' ' Woe unto the pastors that destroy 
and scatter the sheep of my pasture ! saith the Lord." 
Or to verse eleven, ' ' Both prophet and priest are pro- 
fane ; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, 
saith the Lord." Or verse fifteen, "From the prophets 
is profaneness" — margin hypocrisy — "gone forth into 
66 



' ' WHAT IS THE CHAFF TO THE WHEAT ? 67 

all the land" ; or verse sixteen, " They," i. e., the pro- 
phets, ' ' speak a vision of their own heart and not out of 
the mouth of the Lord. ' ' Read all the chapter and fit it 
to the text, and hear God ask his question, "What is 
the chaff to the wheat?" If we hear with the heart 
and not simply with ' ' the hearing of the ear, ' ' a sense 
of dread responsibility would weigh us down and elimi- 
nate everything extraneous, and fire us with an un- 
known zeal to win for the eternal home all that is imper- 
ishable in man. A sense of the "woe unto me if I 
preach not the gospel ' ' would be necessary to keep us 
in our places. 

There were pastors who ' ' scattered and destroyed the 
sheep of the pasture." The result was a land full of 
adulter}*, profanity and wickedness. Folly was in the 
prophets causing Israel to err. A general laxity from 
that high standard which the Lord requires was visible 
everywhere. And worldliness had eaten the church 
like a worm at its root. The Lord is represented as a 
holy and devout man, vexed beyond measure at what 
seemed a hopeless case, crying, " He that hath my word 
let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to 
the wheat ? ' ' 

Is prayer a necessity for ministers? Can the people 
afford to hear a sermon from him whom they have not 
commended to God ? Should the cry, ' ' What is truth ? ' ' 
ever be absent from a minister's lips ? Should preachers 
earnestly seek the best gifts? Should sessions recom- 
mend and presbyteries license limp and cowardly men? 
Should he who regards the ministry as a mere profession 
be permitted to occupy the sacred desk? Are men still 
called of God as was Aaron? Should churches be so 
eager for men who will "draw," and for the purpose of 
drawing, should ministers preach short sermons, pleasant 



68 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

sermons, easy sermons ; sermons for the chaff and per- 
mit the wheat to shrivel and die ? 

If there be one thing worthy of the name of supreme 
trifling among men, it must be found with that man 
who, when Jesus had found his way to our apostate 
world, and out of it through sufferings unequalled, and 
then, that men might know his will, say, "Go, preach 
my gospel," stands forth in some holy place in holy 
time, and uses that place and time and opportunity in 
tricking, amusing, or merely entertaining people for his 
own ends. 

If there be a deeper and darker place where God shuts 
some off from future mischief, it must be occupied by 
those of whom God says, "I have not sent these pro- 
phets yet they ran : I have not spoken to them yet they 
prophesied." Usurpers. "Prophets of the deceit of 
their own heart, " " telling lies in the name of the Lord, 
and causing God's people to forget his name, and bring- 
ing myriad disasters upon the land. 

Has this thing been done ? Our answer comes through 
references from the Scriptures of the Old Testament and 
New ; from ecclesiastical history ; our own observation 
as well as from what our fathers have told us; kings 
who have usurped the theocratic throne as well as pro- 
phets and priests, have led the people away from God 
after Baal, Mammon, and god's many and lords many. 
Pharisees and Sadducees have done the same. So have 
Antinomians, Socinians and Materialists, and men in 
Popish and Protestant pulpits. Yes, and men who, in 
the effort to exalt themselves and make their craft suc- 
cessful, have so carefully studied "the things that make 
for peace " as to eliminate from their teaching all thought 
that a God so holy that angels cannot stand before him, 
can possibly have any charge against a man defiled from 



' ' WHAT IS THE CHAFF TO THE WHEAT ? " 69 

the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. ' ' All is 
done, " " God is only love. ' ' 

There is a high and broad way to heaven. Crowds 
are going. We hear but little of warnings of the neces- 
sity of repentance, consequently we see but little of con- 
viction, and, if we may judge by the after life, but little 
of conversion. 

When there is so much charity that dead men, how- 
ever they have lived and died, can be carried to heaven 
on its wings as easily as Lazarus was by angels, men 
will live and die without regard to the word of the Lord. 
Hell drops out of the system. So does discipline. The 
newspapers tell the number of converts, worthless statis- 
tics pander to denominational pride, and a large, limp and 
deceived church starts on its way to the palace royal of 
the King, cleaving to the good things of this life, shun- 
ning the narrow road so difficult to find, and having so 
little company when found. Chaff gathered in, wheat 
left out. God and mammon are mingled. Rites take 
the place of religion ; sin regarded as disease or misfor- 
tune only ; Sabbath a holiday ; Jesus Christ a mere man 
and but little better than other ' ' holiness people ' ' ; bread 
and wine equal to faith and a spiritual life drawn from 
his body and blood ; the Spirit of God a myth, and not 
unfrequently revelry, carnality and refined polite sensu- 
ality, a mark of liberty which souls, panting after God, 
have never found, and which regards with contempt 
people who strive to live within God's pavilion. 

The minister who does not distinguish between the 
chaff and the wheat must answer for it in no small 
measure. 

True, there are some things calculated to hold up 
fainting spirits when confronted with God's awful com- 
mands to his ambassadors, "I am a frail man like 



■JO SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

others " ; "lam not here from choice " ; " that woe 
keeps me at work. " " Friendships are sweet to me and 
it is hard to offend. I value the good opinion of my 
fellow-men, and I have faults and sins like others, and 
I am afraid of 'physician, heal thyself.' Then, too, 
temperaments differ, and it is right to reach results by 
pacific measures." "Surely, then, the loving Master 
will not hold me to a strict account. He will take the 
blood of souls farther away from my skirts when he re- 
members the awfulness and the hardness of the work he 
has given me to do." He does not ask that a loving 
and tender regard for men, for ourselves or for him be 
forgotten, but that a constant remembrance of the value 
of the wheat above that of the chaff will keep us at our 
work in whatever way the Holy Ghost shall direct a 
prayerful and submissive Spirit. God's charges are not 
against frail men and loving spirits, but against men 
who keep his truth from the people. And this fully 
preached by any kind of spirit will produce the exact re- 
sult Jesus foretold when his disciples asked, "What 
shall we have ? ' ' 

There can be but two reasons for fewer martyrs now 
than in a former day. Either God is curbing man's 
hatred and the poweis of wickedness to give rest to his 
suffering people before the coming of those days of woe 
which, for the elects' sake, must be shortened; or the 
prophets prophesy smooth things, and the people love to 
have it so. The kind of preaching Jesus approved cost 
John the Baptist his head, took Jesus himself to the 
cross, and the disciples and a long line of martyrs to an 
untimely death, a blessed end as compared with that of 
him who overlooks the wheat. 

Again — The question comes in practical form to all 
learners and teachers, especially parents. 



"WHAT IS THE CHAFF TO THE WHEAT!*" 7 1 

What is the abundant cultivation of the intellect as 
compared with that of the heart? Why the excessive 
scholasticism sought by students and insisted upon by 
parents and teachers and the sad neglect of early piety? 
The Samuels, Josiahs, Daniels and Timothys seem to 
diminish in numbers. 

It is not implied that the chaff is absolutely worthless, 
but only comparatively so. Independently considered, 
it is of great value, but only of value as it serves its 
part in furnishing the full grain for the garner. There 
is no intention to underrate careful intellectual training, 
still, the question comes back, what is exhaustive effort 
in this line as compared with the spiritual man? A 
man's Greek and Hebrew will greatly aid the soul in 
reaching a lofty maturity from the milk and meat of 
God's word. Observation, travel, thought, the study of 
great principles which underlie and hold up empires, 
will never be lost. Still, what is a man, however 
scholarly, his head bending under the weight of learn- 
ing, his features chiseled into classic beauty, if the heart 
be starved and cold? As teacher, how can he warm a 
soul? as learner, how can he be receptive? or, what will 
Latin profit a lost soul, or music in a world of dis- 
cord and with a tongue on fire? Will it avail anything 
to be able to curse God in Hebrew or in language the 
most scientific? Who cares to ask rocks, in geological 
language, to fall on them in the winnowing day? Will 
logic and rhetoric soften the description of woes eternal? 
or pure mathematics help to find the centre of a bottom- 
less pit? What is the chaff of your child, your pupil, 
your hearer, yourself, to a deathless soul ? What is the 
chaff to the wheat when both are on fire? Only the fuel 
which adds intensity to the flame. Culture to a lost man 
adds to his torment as he is beaten with many stripes. 



72 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

And yet the truth stands out before us that the trend, 
even of the religious world, is largely in the direction of 
making everything attractive and easy. "Get the Bible 
out of the schools ; " " the catechism is too hard ; ' ' 
"never whip your child; " never force him to church; 
let him attend family worship or not, as he wills ; mind 
cultivated and soul neglected. 

Again — The question comes in practical form to all 
readers and hearers. What is the body to the soul? the 
withering, dying thing, the hull, to the real man. "The 
Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man be- 
came a living soul ; " and the real man is that "living 
soul," and always will be. What is the dust to that? 
Gaze into the face of your friend ; see there the eye out 
of which something looks ; grasp a hand that has life in it ; 
see lips open, out of which a man speaks, and that man 
links himself to the man within you by tendrils of love. 
Two bodies do not meet and attract or repel but two 
men — living souls. Look again ; the eye is closed, your 
friend seems to sleep, no answer to your call. Open the 
eye ; nothing looks out of the leaden-hued dead thing ; 
you may get a word from the stone as readily as from 
that. It is unmoved by cries and tears or the worm 
approaching. In a few days lift the coffin lid, and you 
are convinced, if not before, that no living thing went in 
there, but something which made the heart beat against 
yours has gone and left the chaff, its wrapping, to perish ; 
and we do the same, and leave it lying out in the cold 
and night and rain, or under the snow. In reality it 
is just what it was before, only the greenness has faded 
from the chaff; its form is changing, it is rapidly going 
to dust ; still, if that be the real man, it needs your care 
all the more. Then why not dress it in holiday attire, 



"what is the chaff to the WHEAT? " 73. 

seat it beside you, entertain it beneath the cypress trees 
with conversation and good fare? Alas, you would be 
called insane ; those who spent their time among tombs 
were demoniacs. The world has made an advance since, 
people, where affection is more than carnality, have 
ceased to throw themselves in abandon on dead bodies 
and wail, or to embalm them and bring them to annual 
feasts garlanded with flowers, and have learned to regard 
the body as dead and hence right that it should be ' ' dust 
to dust ' ' which they never will, nor wish, to see again 
as before. We are glad that flesh and blood, damaged 
by sin and the world, will never enter heaven. But 
where is that living thing that breathed and looked and 
loved, or where will it be when the garnered centuries 
of time are over? We are not infidels, in theory, at least. 
Our living souls press on to find the wheat when we are 
at our best, and we know right well where we shall see 
it again ; but realizing how much we miss the precious 
truth, not only with regard to friends "loved long since 
and lost a while," but with regard to ourselves as we 
go on trying to solve the problem, "What shall we eat 
and drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed" while 
neglecting the deathless thing which will soon leap out 
of its shell and live and grow forever. 

No wonder God puts amazement in his question, 
"What is the chaff to the wheat?" 



CHRIST'S PASTORAL PRESENCE WITH 
HIS DYING PEOPLE. 

BY JOHN L. GIRARDEAU, D. D., LL. D., 
Lately Professor of Theology in Columbia Theological Seminary. 



"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with me; thy rod and thy 
staff they comfort me." — Psalm xxiii. 4. 

IN this exquisite, sacred pastoral, the Psalmist of Israel 
celebrates, in touching strains, the constant and ten- 
der care which God exercises towards his covenant 
people. Under the beautiful imagery of a shepherd, 
leading his flock to green pastures and beside still waters, 
he is represented as conducting them to the rich provi- 
sions and the refreshing rest of the gospel. When, like 
wandering sheep, they deviate from his ways, he seeks 
them in love, collects them again with the pastoral crook, 
and guides them once more in the paths of righteousness 
and peace. When, in their waywardness and folly, they 
backslide from him, he still remembers his covenant, is 
faithful to his promises, and saves them for the sake of 
his own great name ; and when they come to pass 
through the valley of the death-shade, his cheering pre- 
sence dispels their fears, and his powerful grace proves 
their solace and support. 

Though it be true that Jehovah, the triune God, is the 
Shepherd of his people, there is a peculiar and emphatic 
sense in which Christ is represented in the gospel as 
sustaining the pastoral relation and discharging its func- 
tions. The Evangelist John reports him as declaring, 
74 



CHRIST S PASTORAL PRESENCE, ETC. 75 

"lam the Good Shepherd ; the Good Shepherd giveth 
his life for the sheep. ' ' The Apostle Paul speaks of the 
God of peace as having brought again from the dead our 
Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through 
the blood of the everlasting covenant. The Apostle 
Peter reminds believers that whereas they were in their 
natural condition as sheep going astray, they are now 
returned unto Christ as the Shepherd and Bishop of their 
souls. And the same apostle exhorts presbyters to feed 
the flock of God in view of the reward which the Great 
Pastor would eventually confer upon them : ' ' And when 
the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown 
of glory that fadeth not away." These passages make 
it sufficiently evident that the Lord Jesus is peculiarly 
the Shepherd of his people. 

The pastoral relation is a comprehensive one, includ- 
ing the three offices which Christ, as Mediator, sus- 
tains : those of a Prophet, a Priest and a King. As it is 
the province of a shepherd to feed' his flock, to rule and 
protect them from their enemies, and, if necessary, to 
lay down his life in their defence, the prophetical func- 
tion, by which Jesus feeds his people, the kingly, by 
which he rules and protects them, and the sacerdotal, 
by which he redeems them through his death, are all 
embraced in his pastoral office. It touches the interests, 
the experience and the hopes of believers at every point, 
both in life and in death. It involves the application of 
a Saviour's power, love and mercy to their every emer- 
gency and their every need. With infinite tenderness 
compassion and vigilance, the great Pastor follows his 
sheep through every devious path of life, and extends 
to them his succor when they faint under burning suns, 
in the horrid wilderness, and amidst the glooms and 
terrors of the shadow of death. 



76 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

I. In the first place, it may be remarked in attempting 
to expand the comforting truths suggested by the text, 
that the pastoral presence of Jesus is a protection to the 
dying believer from the fears of evil which would other- 
wise distress him. "When I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art 
with me." I have no objection to render to the view 
which makes these words applicable to those critical 
passages in the life of God's people, which may not in- 
appropriately be described as the valley of the death- 
shade. This was evidently the interpretation of that 
masterly delineator of Christian experience, John Bunyan, 
in his immortal allegory. He represents his pilgrim as 
struggling with the dangers and conflicts of the valley 
of the shadow of death before he comes to the crossing 
of the last river. And it cannot be disputed that there 
are seasons in the experience of the believer, when," 
pressed by his besetting temptations, pursued by the 
malice of the devil, and fascinated by the enchantments 
or persecuted by the fury of the world, he encounters 
terrors which are akin to those of death itself. In these 
fearful exigencies, these periods of conflict, depression 
and anguish, he appears to be passing down into the 
darkness and gloom of the valley of death ; and it is the 
pastoral presence of Christ in the hour of despair which 
dissipates the fear of evil and lights up the soul with re- 
turning joy and peace. But although this be true, I see 
no reason for disturbing the ordinary interpretation 
placed upon the words of the text — an interpretation 
which makes them specially applicable to the passage 
of the believer through death, and one which has proved 
a charm to dispel the apprehensions of ill from the 
bosoms of thousands of Christ's people amidst the 
doubts, the strifes, the agonies of the dying hour. 



CHRIST'S PASTORAL PRESENCE, ETC. 77 

There are three great and notable epochs in the earthly 
history of the believer in Jesus. The first is that in 
which, at the creative fiat of the Almighty Maker, he 
springs from nonenity into being, and is confronted with 
the duties, the responsibilities and the bliss or woe of an 
immortal career. The next is that in which, by virtue 
of a second creation and through the wondrous process 
of the new birth and conversion, he passes from the 
kingdom of Satan and of darkness into the kingdom of 
grace and of light. From being a bondsman of the 
devil, a slave of sin and an heir of hell, he becomes, by 
a marvellous transformation, a subject of God, a citizen 
of heaven, and an inheritor of everlasting possessions 
and an amaranthine crown. It is a transitional process 
which awakens the pulse of a new life, engenders the 
habits of holiness, adorns the soul with the rich graces 
of the divine Spirit, and inspires the joyful hope of eter- 
nal felicity beyond the grave. The third, and it is the 
most solemn and terrible crisis of his being, is that of 
death, in which the believer passes through nature's 
closing conflict and the awful change of dissolution to 
the experience of an untried existence. The transition 
is suited to alarm. It is nothing less than one from 
time to eternity, and it is accomplished in the twinkling 
of an eye. At one moment he is surrounded by the 
familiar objects of earth, and looks upon the faces of his 
weeping friends who cluster around the bed of death, 
and in the next he opens his eyes upon eternal realites 
and the blaze of God's immediate presence. Nature, con- 
structed originally for an immortal life, instinctively re- 
coils from so violent and revolting a change as that which 
death involves. It shrinks back in terror from the 
vision of the coffin and the shroud, of the corruption and 
the worms of the grave. The circumstances attending 



78 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the dying process are such as are suited to appal a con- 
scious sinner, and fill him with consternation and dis- 
may — the cruel rupture of earthly relations, the sudden 
withdrawal of accustomed scenes, the forced abandon- 
ment of wonted pursuits, the absolute loneliness of the 
passage, the dread neighborhood of the flaming bar and 
the rigor of the last account. My brethren, how shall 
we, without apprehension, encounter so tremendous a 
change ? The text furnishes us an answer which illu- 
mines the gloom of the dying chamber, and lights up 
the darkness of the grave. The pastoral presence of the 
Lord Jesus is an antidote to the fears, and a preventive 
of the evils, of death. There are two modes by which 
this blessed result is accomplished : 

i. In the first place the Great Shepherd accompanies 
the believer in his last passage as the Conqueror of Death. 
That which chiefly renders death an object of terror is 
the consciousness of guilt. The groans, the pains, the 
dissolution of our bodily organisms, are confessedly 
dreadful and repulsive ; but the great poet was right 
when he intimated that it is conscience, a guilty conscience 
forecasting the retributions of the future, which makes 
cowards of us all. It is this which leads us to shrink 
from the dying bed as an arena of battle, and from the 
last struggle as a hopeless conflict with an evil which 
the startled imagination personates as a monarch and in- 
vests with power to destroy. Death becomes the king 
of terrors. Were there no sin, the change which might 
have been necessary to remove us from the present state 
and to adapt us to another would have been an easy and 
delightful translation, a euthanasia, disquieted by no 
apprehensions of the soul, and disturbed by no pains of 
the body. But sin has clothed death with its tyrannical 
prerogative as a universal and remorseless despot, con- 



CHRIST'S PASTORAL PRESENCE, ETC. 79 

verted the world into a melancholy theatre of his tri- 
umphs, and transformed the earth into a vast graveyard, 
whitened with the monuments of his sway. The re- 
moval from the present state becomes a passage through 
a valley of tears peopled with shapes of terror, and en- 
compassed with the darkness of the death-shade. 

Christ has subdued this dreadful monster. He con- 
quered death by conquering sin, and he overcomes sin 
by his dying obedience to law. This is the statement of 
the apostle in his argument touching the resurrection of 
the body: "The sting of death is sin." The power of 
death to inflict torture, to poison our happiness and 
blast our hopes, lies in the fact that we are guilty, and 
are, therefore, completely subjected to his tyranny. 
"The strength of sin is the law." The punishment of 
our guilt is penal. Our dying sufferings are the penalty 
of a broken law; and sin, in inflicting them upon us, 
throws itself back for the enforcement of its authority 
upon the irreversible sanctions of that majestic and 
eternal rule which we have outraged and insulted. 
Christ has stripped sin of this strength. He has un- 
nerved the cruel monarch, and rendered him powerless 
to destroy his people. The glorious Redeemer, moved by 
compassion for our wretched estate, came down to our re- 
lief and stood forth as the champion of his church in her 
conflict with death. He assumed our guilt, took the sting 
of death in his own soul, underwent our penal sufferings 
and, in accordance with the law of substitution, relieved 
us from the obligation to suffer the same punishment, 
and has enlisted the divine justice on the side of our de- 
liverance. Christ has died penally for his people. God 
accepts the vicarious sacrifice, and the believer cannot 
die in the same way. Justice cannot demand a double 
payment of the same debt. Death is divested of its 



80 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

penal feature, and is transformed from a curse into a 
blessing, from a passage to execution into a translation 
to bliss. In the tragedy enacted upon the cross, Jesus, 
the representative of his people, engaged in a mighty 
wrestle with Death. He fell, but his fall crushed out 
the life of his dread antagonist. He died, but death 
died with him. He was buried, but he dragged death 
down with him into the grave ; and there, despoiling the 
tyrant of his diadem, he unfurled over his crownless 
head the ensign of his people's salvation, and, in their 
name, took undisputed possession of his whole domain. 
It is true that the believer must still pass through the 
dying change, but the curse of it is forever gone. It is 
no more death in its true and awful sense as the penalty 
of law. "I," says the divine Redeemer, "I am the 
resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and he that 
liveth and believeth in me shall never die." "He that 
keepeth my sayings shall never see death." It is true 
that the believer must die ; but in dying he is privileged 
to suffer with his Master, that he may rise and reign 
with him. It is true that the believer must die; but 
death now constitutes part of a wholesome discipline 
which prepares him for glory ; it is a process by which 
he is purged from dross, casts off the slough of corrup- 
tion, and is purified for his admission into the holy pre- 
sence of God and the sanctified communion of saints. 
It is true that he must walk through the dark valley ; 
but the Conqueror of Death descends into it by his side, 
illuminates its darkness by the radiance of his presence, 
protects him from the assaults of a now powerless foe, 
and bearing in his hands the keys of death and the in- 
visible world, peacefully dismisses the departing saint 
from sin to holiness, and from the stormy trials of earth 
to the joy and peace of an everlasting rest. 



CHRIST'S PASTORAL PRESENCE, ETC. 8l 

2. It may be observed further, that the pastoral pre- 
sence of Jesus with his dying people is manifested by 
the tender ministration of his sympathy. There were 
two great ends which the Saviour contemplated in his 
sufferings and death — the one that he might redeem his 
people from sin and everlasting punishment; the othe* 
that he might be qualified by experience to sympathize 
with them while themselves passing through the afflic- 
tions of life and the pains of the dying hour. To achieve 
these results, he became incarnate, partook of our nature, 
and was made bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. 
Not merely a legal substitute, but possessed of the sub- 
lime and tender spirit of a priest, he consented to be com- 
passed with sinless infirmity that he might be capable of 
compassion for the weak, the wandering and the dying. 
An infirm human being, struggling under the burden of 
assumed guilt, and confronted by the terrors of divine 
wrath, is it any marvel that he looked forward to death 
not without fear ? One of the most affecting and pathe- 
tic passages in the Scriptures is that in which the apos- 
tle, discoursing of the priestly sufferings of Jesus, tells 
us that in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and 
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that 
was able to save him from death, and was heard in that 
he feared. For it must be remembered, that the' form of 
death which Christ encountered, while it included the 
experience of our sufferings, embraced incomparably 
more. In his own person, perfectly innocent, and in 
his character stainlessly holy, he merited intrinsically 
the admiration of his fellow-men, and the approval of 
his God. So far from deserving to die, he was enti- 
tled, on the naked score of retributive justice, to the 
highest and most blissful life. And yet condescend- 
ing, in boundless mercy, to be treated as putatively 
6 



82 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

guilty for the sake of dying men, he underwent a form 
of death, the least element of which was the pains of 
dissolution — a death which involved the experience of 
infinite wrath and the intolerable pains of hell. The 
cup which was placed in the hands of Jesus in Gethse- 
mane was one which was never offered to any other 
human being on earth. The trembling and consterna- 
tion of his human nature as he took that chalice of woe, 
his thrice-repeated prayer to be relieved, if possible, 
from the necessity of drinking it, and the bloody sweat 
that swathed his body like a robe, attested an anguish 
of soul which none but he was ever called upon to bear. 
The Sufferer, who, for us, expired on the cross of Calvary, 
endured a species of death which was as singular as it 
was comprehensive and exhaustive. In body, he suf- 
fered the keen and protracted tortures of crucifixion ; and 
in spirit, reviled by foes, deserted by friends and aban- 
doned of God, he descended alone into the valley of the 
death-shade, which was not only veiled in impenetrable 
gloom, but swept by the tempests of avenging wrath. 
Furnished with such an experience, the Good Shepherd 
ministers with exquisite sympathy at the couch of the 
dying believer. He knows his doubts, his apprehen- 
sions, his fears; and, moved by a compassion which 
naught but a common suffering could produce, he makes 
all the bed under the expiring saint, smooths his last 
pillow, and "wipes his latest tear away." 

II. In the second place, the Psalmist beautifully por- 
trays the consoling influence of Christ's presence upon 
the dying believer when he represents the pastoral staff 
as affording him protection and comfort. "Thy rod and 
thy staff, they comfort me." The staff, the appropriate 
emblem of the pastoral office, may be regarded in two 
aspects. As a rod, it is a powerful weapon of defence; 



CHRIST'S PASTORAL PRESENCE, ETC. 83 

and as a staff, it is an instrument of support. It is at 
once, therefore, the symbol of protecting power and of 
supporting grace. When at even-tide the oriental shep- 
herd had folded his flock, and missed from the number 
some crippled ewe or tender lamb, he failed not, albeit 
through night and storm, to go in quest of the wanderer 
as it strayed amid the jagged rocks of the mountain -side, 
or the terrors of the howling wilderness. And when he 
had found it, he gathered it compassionately in his arms, 
laid it upon his shoulders, and took his way homeward 
rejoicing. But often he was compelled to pass through 
some deep and gloomy gorge, infested by wild beasts 
and rendered dangerous by the swollen torrent dashing 
fiercely through it and making the passage hazardous 
and the foothold insecure. Then, when from some 
neighboring thicket the young lion sprang forth and 
roared upon his prey, wielding his shepherd's staff as a 
weapon of defence, he protected the precious burden he 
carried, and beat back the assailant to his lair ; or, as he 
stepped from one slippery rock to another, through the 
rapid current, he used his staff as a supporting prop, 
and stayed both himself and the feeble wanderer which 
he conducted to the folded flock. Thus it is, my 
brethren, with the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, 
when, in the night of death, he leads the feeble and 
dying members of his flock through the valley of the 
death-shade to the heavenly fold. There are two diffi- 
culties which the believer has not unfrequently to en- 
counter when he comes to die : 

In the first place, he is liable to the last and desperate 
assaults of the adversary of souls. Baffled by the power 
of the everlasting covenant in his attempts to compass 
the destruction of the believer, he meets him at the bed 
of death, and taking advantage of his helplessness, en- 



84 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

deavors, if he cannot destroy him, to mar the peace and 
becloud the prospect of his latest moments on earth. 
He showers his fiery darts upon him, injects doubts as 
to his acceptance with God, conjures up from the past 
the apparition of his sins, and calls up before his appalled 
imagination the vision of an angry Judge, a fiery bar, and 
a night of eternal despair. But another and a greater 
than Satan is there. The Chief Shepherd is also in that 
chamber of death. Standing at the dying bedside, and 
lifting his pastoral staff as a rod of defence, he wards off 
from his agonized servant the incursions of the powers 
of darkness, and beats back the assaults ot his satauic 
foes. 

Another difficulty which is apt to disturb the peace of 
the departing believer is derived from his vivid remem- 
brance of his sins, and his consequent fear that he is not 
prepared to meet his God. In the solemn and honest 
hour of death, his soul, conscious of its dread proximity 
to the judgment seat, takes a minute and impartial sur- 
vey of the past. His memory, quickened into an energy 
which only death can impart, with lightning rapidity 
sweeps, as at a glance, the whole field of his earthly 
history. There is no glozing process then by which the 
hideous features of his sins can be painted or concealed ; 
no apology for his crimes which will stand the scrutiny 
of the death-bed, or abide the breaking light of the eter- 
nal world. All his acts of youthful folly, all his broken 
vows, all his unredeemed promises to his God, all his 
fearful backslidings, all his sinful thoughts, words and 
deeds, now crowd into his dying chamber, throng around 
his dying bed, and threaten to go with him as swift wit- 
nesses against him before the final bar. The billows of a 
fiercer death than that of the body dash over his head, and, 
struggling in the torrent which threatens to sweep him 



CHRIST'S PASTORAL PRESENCE, ETC. 85 

through the last valley downward to a bottomless abyss, 
he cries in his extremity to the Redeemer of his soul. 
Never deaf to the appeals of his dying people, the Great 
Shepherd hastens to his relief with the succors of his sup- 
porting grace. He whispers to the sinking believer that 
he died to save him, that his blood has cleansed him of all 
his sins, and that his perfect righteousnes, his atoning 
merit, is a ground of acceptance, a foundation that will 
not fail him when the wicked and unbelieving shall be 
driven from the divine presence like the chaff before the 
storm. It is enough. The dying believer, with the 
hand of faith, grasps the pastoral staff that Jesus thus 
extends to him, and, leaning upon it, passes in safety 
through the glooms and dangers of the death-shade, 
emerges into the light of heaven, and is satisfied with 
the beatific vision of God. 

Fellow-travellers to the dark valley, let us believe in 
Jesus as our Saviour. Let us put our trust in him as 
the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. So when we are 
called to die, no guilty conscience will break our peace, 
no condemning law will thunder upon us, no frowns of 
an angry Judge will deepen the awful shadow of death ; 
but we will fear no evil, for Christ will be with us ; 
his rod will protect us in our last conflict, his staff will 
support us in our latest pang. 



THE PITILESSNESS OF SIN. 

BY REV. J. B. STRATTON, D. D., 
Pastor {Emeritus) of the Presbyterian Church, Natchez, Miss. 



"Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he 
was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty 
pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have 
sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they 
said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down 
the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and 
hanged himself . " — Matt, xxvii. 3, 4, 5. 

THERE is a use to be made of this incident, lying 
outside of its direct bearings, which it may be well 
to glance at as we approach the study of it. That 
Judas spoke rationally and truly, in the confession which 
he here makes, cannot be questioned. According to the 
judgment of that arbiter which presides in the breast of 
every man, he took the right view of his conduct ; he 
had an adequate ground for his self-condemnation and 
despair. He had sinned. He had not been made to sin. 
He had done freely, voluntarily, what he had done in 
betraying the innocent blood. It does not occur to him 
to say that he had been unfortunate ; that he had been 
the victim of fate, or the irresponsible tool of a higher 
power. "I, I only, have sinned" is his confession; 
and any unbiassed mind which looks at his crime will 
endorse the confession. He stands guilty at the bar of 
every unprejudiced observer from the day that he ap- 
peared before the Jewish court, till now. 

And yet, what Peter said, on the day of Pentecost, in 
86 



THE PITILESSNESS OF SIN. 87 

regard to the crucifixion of Christ, "Him being deliv- 
ered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified 
and slain," he might have said of Judas' part in the 
transaction. "The determinate counsel and foreknow- 
ledge of God, ' ' which made the Redeemer's death certain, 
included in them all the steps which led to the event. 
And yet, no one doubts that it was with ' ' wicked hands ' ' 
the Jewish rulers did their work; and no one doubts 
that Judas ' ' sinned ' ' in the aid which he rendered them 
in the doing of it. 

You have here the problem of the coincidence of God's 
sovereignty and man's freedom in his acts and his re- 
sponsibility for them, solved by the spectacle of the fact. 
The two agencies are seen, in this instance, actually co- 
inciding — forming like two separate cords — the unity of 
a knot. Speculative science, formal logic may say the 
knot cannot be tied. In spite of all their affirmations, it 
appears here, visibly tied. The philosopher's theories or 
arguments do not make facts. Facts do not wait for 
these, in order to command the acceptance of men. A 
well-established fact, in the face of the dissent of science 
and logic, may say the difficidty is with you. A fact, 
inexplicable by your methods, is simply a truth standing 
on an altitude above the reach of your ladders. 

The fact, revealed to us here, in the case of Judas, is 
a collateral light thrown upon a subject upon which the 
minds of most of us are probably, often painfully, and 
yet unnecessarily exercised. 

There is still another direction in which this incident 
may be used to lift from the religion of Christ a reproach 
which is sometimes thrown upon it. The existence of 
spurious members in the church is no impeachment of 
the claim of the gospel to be a regenerating and sancti- 



88 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

fying power amongst men. That there should have 
been a traitor in the original body of twelve disciples, 
and by the permission of an omniscient Master, may sur- 
prise us. But the fact meets us. It was so. The great 
Husbandman allowed tares to grow up with the wheat, 
but the seeming anomaly does not prove that the wheat 
was tares ; but, on the other hand, makes it more evi- 
dent that the wheat was wheat. A wise foresight on 
the part of its Head, of the condition of the material out 
of which his church was to be formed, may be discovered 
in this arrangement. A Judas^ — a counterfeit disciple — 
may have been admitted into the family of his followers, 
in order that all the other members might be led to the 
watchfulness which asks perpetually, "Is it I?" and to 
the self-distrust which keeps them constantly mindful of 
the Master's counsel: "Follow me!" Occasional in- 
stances of perfidy on the part of professed Christians is no 
more a proof that Christianity is a pretence or a failure 
than persecution is ; and the Saviour may have allowed 
a traitor to appear thus early in the history of the church, 
as he did the persecutor, in order that his sen-ants in all 
ages might be forewarned of the perils which lay in their 
path and of their need of divine grace to uphold them in 
their steadfastness. 

Passing now to the more direct teachings of the text, 
I remark, first, that the case of Judas gives us a striking 
illustration of the power of a sinful lust, cherished in the 
heart, to blind the mind to tlie character of the passio?i and 
to the consequc?ices which issue from it. It is a matter of 
common consciousness (though men seem very gener- 
ally to overlook it) that the impressions we get of things 
are due very largely to the condition of the organs 
through which we deal with them. A diseased eye will 
give you a wrong idea of the color, form, or size of an 



THE PITILESSNESS OF SIN. 59 

object. There is more foundation than most people are 
aware of for the apparently extravagant proposition that 
every man makes his own world. Certain it is that the 
aspect under which the world presents itself to him will 
be determined very much by his own subjective state. 
Before your view of a thing can be accepted as right, 
you must be sure that the instrument through which 
you are looking at it is true, and that your medium is a 
clear one. Carry with you in your heart a vicious lust, 
and it will be in you like a smoking furnace, the fumes 
of which will becloud your intellect and immerse you in 
an atmosphere of illusions. It has in it a wizard's 
power, and can, to your eyes, change darkness into 
light, bitter into sweet, and evil into good. What a 
terrible disenchantment there was to Judas when he saw 
his Master actually condemned to death! His over- 
whelming distress shows that the possibility of such an 
issue had never been distinctly realized by him ; or if so, 
that he had persuaded himself that Jesus, by some exer- 
tion of his power, could extricate himself from the hands 
of his enemies. But look at him now, when sign after 
sign of humiliation is revealing the sufferer's weakness, 
and forboding the fact that his innocent blood, through 
his agency, was to be shed! The spell which had be- 
numbed his reason, is broken. His silver has lost its 
lustre. His eyes have been open to the enormity of his 
crime. Do you wonder that he cast down his treasure 
in the temple, and departed and hanged himself? 

My friends, this is no poetic fiction — no dramatic pic- 
ture af avenging justice. It is a record of every day's 
experience. It is a fair exposition of the blinding and 
stupifying effect of corrupt passion. It is a representa- 
tion of what I may call, the pitilessness of sin. From 
the first, its work is one of moral mutilation. It steals 



90 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

into the heart, and then puts out the eyes of the soul. 
It is repeating, in a thousand instances, the same cruel 
torture which Nebuchadnezzar inflicted upon Zedekiah, 
the captive king of Judah. Intent upon the gratification 
of his desires, the victim of lust loses his capacity to 
estimate the true nature of what he covets, or the ability 
to look on to the end of his pursuit of it. The forbidden 
fruit seems fair to his sight and inviting to his appetite, 
and in his eagerness to enjoy it, he ceases to regard the 
deadly consequences which may lie behind indulgence. 
' ' In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely 
die, ' ' may be written by the finger of God full in view, 
but he does not see the threat, or he does not understand 
the meaning of it. If you have ever watched the opera- 
tions of your own minds when under the influence of some 
strong inclination, you will have observed how completely 
they have been warped and biassed in favor of everything 
which encouraged your wishes, and against everything 
which opposed them. The point of gratification has 
been the point of attraction. Everything in the way of 
disaster or suffering lying in the rear of gratification has 
been reduced in magnitude, or has been attenuated into 
a filmy indistinctness, till it has hardly been seen at all. 
Now, just this species of hallucination attends the 
practice of sin in all forms. How strong the passion 
which engenders it is, may be inferred from the difficulty 
there is in persuading men to give it up. It is paralyz- 
ing as the frost of winter and freezes the faculties of the 
soul into motionless ice. Thought, sensibility, sym- 
pathy, are congealed by it. It encrusts the nature of its 
subject with the hardness cf the nether millstone. It 
pays its wages, "death," to its votary in advance — be- 
fore his soul leaves his body, because it extinguishes 
within him every instinct and element of a true and 



THE PITILESSNESS OF SIN. 9 I 

generous manhood. Judas, under the influence of it, 
could see more worth in a few pieces of coin than in 
his divine Lord. The drunkard, under the infatuation 
of his appetite, grows blind to the fact that his intemper- 
ate courses are bringing his family to beggary and him- 
self to shame and the grave. And this moral enfeeble - 
ment, let me add, is just as real in the case of the decent, 
respectable transgressor as in that of these more flagrant 
offenders. It is the love of sin which makes the sinner, 
whatever be the form in which that love expresses itself. 
And love, in the nature of it, is devotion, servitude. It 
takes captive its subjects. St. Paul calls all godless 
men, "servants," or, as the word means, slaves "of 
sin." They are slaves. They are fettered bondsmen, 
whether their chains be the iron ones of the tenants of 
the slum, or the golden ones of the worshipper of Mam- 
mon, or the silken ones of the devotee of pleasure. The 
love of sin ensures the result that the man does not want 
to be separated from the thing he loves, and has no 
capacity to appreciate the reasons which would urge him 
to separate from it. In the misty way in which the 
admonitions and warnings of God's word appear to him, 
he sees nothing in them to alarm him, or nothing which 
a little ready sophistry cannot strip of its force. He can 
relieve himself of all uneasiness by saying, that his form 
of indulgence is a harmless thing, a light effervescence 
of exuberant vitality which means no wrong ; or he can 
argue that God is too good and merciful to notice or 
punish the petty frailties of his creatures ; or he can con- 
strue the threatenings of Scripture into poetical extrava- 
gances, designed to intimidate the vulgar multitude ; 
and so he encourages himself in the pursuit of the things 
he loves by dreams of security as false as those by which 
Judas was beguiled. 



92 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

But Judas, as we see in our text, awoke from his 
dreams, and in the light which fell upon his opened 
eyes, illusions vanished, and things stood before him in 
their naked reality. You know the result of the revela- 
tion. I have no heart, no power to analyze its contents. 
But does not the question press itself upon us : may not 
the sinner, in every case, awake from his dreams? 
Dreams cannot last always. The honest waking hour 
must come sometime. Oh, surely the fate of the traitor 
in that awful moment when he saw what he had been do- 
ing, ought to startle every man loving sin and living in 
the service of it, like a thunder-peal. The enchantments 
which evil lust throw around the soul must be dissi- 
pated sooner or later, for truth must win in its conflict 
with error. There are consequences to follow a life of 
ungodliness. The Bible says so, and its testimony is 
infinitely more worthy of the credit of a reasonable man 
than can be the biassed utterances of a heart debauched 
by the love of sin. The spectacle of Judas' anguish and 
despair at the close of his experimenting should settle 
that point forever. 

A second fact, suggested by the text, is that sinful 
affections, chetished in connection with favorable opportuni- 
ties, for knowing a?id doi?ig one's ditty, may be expected to 
grow with rapidity and to attain to an extraordinary 
intensity. We shall probably be safe in supposing that 
when Judas first began to follow Christ, the thought of 
betraying him to death for a sum of money would have 
filled him with horror. But after the lapse of three years 
he could do this atrocious deed. For during those three 
years, in spite of all the counsels of Jesus and the attrac- 
tions of his holy example, leading him to self-denial and a 
low esteem for worldly possessions, we find him retaining 
unimpaired, what we may assume to have been his original 



THE PITILESSNESS OF SIN. 93 

greed for wealth. His opportunities for cultivating pious 
sentiments and principles were peculiar. But his ruling 
passion withstood them all, and in the course of time 
became strong enough to induce him to make the base 
proposal to the Jewish priests, "What will ye give me, 
and I will deliver him unto you ? ' ' And such a result 
was entirely natural. His propensity to avarice gained 
strength, his conscience became blunted every time he 
refused to give up his besetting lust under the admonitions 
and reproofs of his Master. He became a worse man 
rapidly by opposing the influences which were striving 
to make him a good man ; and, finally, no extreme was 
too great for him to reach in the indulgence of his pro- 
pensity. This tallies with common experience. Do you 
not know that you are adding to the strength of your 
limbs every time that you lift from the ground or throw 
down to the ground the bearrier that obstructs your 
way ? Men who will hold on to their sinful passions 
and persist in leading a sinful life, in the face of the 
opportunities and facilities for repentance and amend- 
ment which the gospel affords, rapidly lose their moral 
sensibility and succumb to the mastery of their love of 
sin. They have resisted so much in prosecuting their 
evil courses, that the impulse acquired will carry them 
onward to the last point of indulgence. The gospel, 
thus, which they would not allow to be a savor of life 
unto life, becomes a savor of death unto death. The 
love of money, inordinately cherished, I doubt not, has 
operated in the case of many another man, just as it did 
in Judas'. It has led him, at first, to blind his mind to, 
and steel his heart against, the claims of religion, till he 
has gone a certain length, perhaps a moderate one, in 
the gratification of his desire to be rich. Then he has 
repeated the process, and again and again repeated it. 



94 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

He has held on to his guilty purpose though the whole 
enginery of gospel motives has been laboring at his 
heart, to force it towards God and heaven. At the 
outset, probably, his feelings were tender on the subject 
of religion, and nothing would have shocked him more 
than to be told that he could ever sacrifice his Saviour 
for gold. But years pass on, in the heated pursuit of 
wealth and in obstinate resistance to Christ's warnings 
and counsels, and what is the result? His position is 
fixed. He has become petrified as Lot's wife. The last 
kindly thought of Jesus is gone. The last inclination 
towards religion has ceased to throb in his soul; and 
though he does not say it, and though he has never 
deliberately formed the purpose, yet the purpose is formed 
as positively and as inflexibly as though it were signed 
and sealed, to part with Christ for the golden equivalent 
for which his heart has lusted. And what is true of 
this craving for riches is true in regard to every sinful 
appetite which men have persisted in indulging, in de- 
fiance of the remonstrances and threatenings of the 
gospel. The result it is always preparing to bring them 
to is such an infatuated devotion, such an abject bondage, 
to the thing craved, that the abandonment of the Saviour, 
and the loss of the soul do not seem too great a sacrifice 
to secure the object. O ye, who are sitting to-day under 
the ministry of the blessed Jesus as he speaks to you in 
his word, and are yet putting off attending to the duties 
he urges upon you, through the solicitations of some 
sinful passion, will you not remember Judas? Your 
passion will master you before you are aware, as the 
traitor's did him ; and may present you before the judg- 
ment-seat, as guilty of selling your Lord, as he was ! 

And now I ask you in the third place to reflect how 
miserably poor and mean all these objects of co'rrupt desire \ 



THE PITILESSNESS OF SIN. 95 

s?ipposi?ig them to be possessed, must appear, when contem- 
plated intelligently , in connection with the consequences to 
which the pitrsuit of them must lead you. Let Judas again 
become your teacher here ! Look at him as he throws 
his bribe, with loathing upon the temple floor ! Was it 
not the very thing, the very sum, all told, in genuine 
coin, for which, a little while ago, he was so eagerly 
clutching, and for which he promised so eagerly to de- 
liver up his Master ? Why has that which seemed so 
precious then become so worthless now? Ah! Judas 
has got what he bargained for, but he has got something 
more. He has got his mind open to a distinct percep- 
tion of the guilt and ruin which his prize has cost him. 
And hence the glitter of his silver has become dim, and 
its value has departed. 

And so it must, sooner or later, be with all who con- 
sent, for anj' earthly gratification, to surrender the bene- 
fits of Christ and his great salvation. When the wrong 
they have done to the Saviour, and the utter bankruptcy 
they have inflicted upon their own souls by such conduct, 
become distinctly revealed to them, as they may be at a 
dying hour, and as they certainly will be at the judg- 
ment day, how will they, too, fling to the dust the ac- 
cursed baubles which have beguiled them into such fatal 
madness ! 

And still further let us ask, what comfort will the wicked 
draw in the hour of their distress from the objects which 
tfiey fuxve seived i?i sacrificing Chfist? Judas, when re- 
morse had seized him, came to the chief priests and 
elders, hoping, probably, that the sight of his contrition 
and agony might appeal, at least, to their humanity and 
secure some change in their treatment of Christ. But 
he was dealing with monsters. They had gained their 
purpose through his agency, and what cared they for 



96 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

him? Vainly he made the hall ring with his protesta- 
tions, "It is innocent blood which I have betrayed." 
"What is that to us?" was the reply. "See thou to 
that ! ' ' Your guilt is your own concern ; bear it as you 
can ! And is this all the solace which the servant of sin 
can expect from the master whom he has been so sedu- 
lously serving? A multitude of Judases, whom no man 
can number, answer, Yes. I can conceive of the slave 
of drink personifying the vicious appetite to which he 
has subjected himself, and in some moment of remorse, 
appealing to it for pity, for release from its grasp, for his 
wife's sake, for his children's sake, for the sake of the 
innocent blood which it is causing him to shed ; and I 
can conceive of the cruel response which he would re- 
ceive, "What is that to me? see thou to that. Your 
position is of your own choosing. Make the best of it 
that you can ! ' ' And there is no other reply which the 
devil, or the world, or the flesh, or wicked men, or any- 
thing that the sinner may be said to have served by his 
lusts, will ever give him. What response can the man 
who has taken a viper into his bosom, and who is writh- 
ing under the torture of its fangs, expect to his cries for 
compassion but a hiss of derision ? Oh ! these passions 
which lead the soul to deliver up its Saviour are pitiless 
things ! They first seduce their victim, and then mock 
at his woes. They answer all his complaints and en- 
treaties with the taunt, "What is that to us? See thou 
to that ! ' ' And this will be all the comfort they will 
ever offer him, either on earth or in eternity. 

There is one truth more included in our text which I 
must not overlook. It is this : that there may be a re- 
pentance, consisting- of a co?ivictio?i of sin and of remorse 
on account of it, which fails to bring to the subject of it any 
relief from his distress, or deliverance ftom his despair. 



THE PITILESSNESS OF SIN. 97 

Judas, it is said, "repented himself." He had convic- 
tion and remorse ; but he did not repent with that re- 
pentance which is "unto life." This is the gift of God 
by his Spirit; and Judas, in parting with Christ, had 
parted with the ground upon which, and the channel 
through which, all God's saving gifts are bestowed. 
And he had quenched that Holy Spirit by whose aid 
alone men can be renewed unto repentance. 

My friends, we make a great mistake when we sup- 
pose that any uneasiness which we may feel at a retro- 
spect of our sins, will bring us the boon offered to re- 
pentance in the gospel, or that repentance is such a 
thing of the will and the lip that it can be practiced 
whenever we choose. There is a sorrow for sin, the 
Bible tells us, which is "of the world," and "worketh 
death." It is the sorrow of nature, entertained under 
the coercion of shame, and suffering, and terror. The 
sorrow which leads to life is a "godly sorrow "—a sor- 
row born of a recognition of God in Christ, producing in 
the soul a sense of the intrinsic evil of sin, and a loath- 
ing of it as an offence done to God and his holy law, and 
a desire to be delivered from its vileness and guiltiness, 
and a dependence upon the grace purchased for sinful 
men through Christ's mediation and propitiation. Mere 
remorse, mere terror, do not produce such a sorrow. 
Judas had these, and yet Judas perished. It is not easy 
to get it, as it would be if it were merely the cancelling 
of a bargain when one finds it about to involve him in 
loss. It is gotten through a resort to the interposition of 
Christ and the Holy Spirit. And just as any man con- 
tinues to separate himself from Christ by obeying his evil 
lusts, and continues to resist the Holy Spirit by asking 
a little and a little longer indulgence in his evil courses, 
he is making it more and more probable that the repen- 
7 



98 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

tance which is associated with pardon and reconciliation 
to God he will never get. This solemn lesson Judas is 
teaching us to-day. "Beware," we may hear him say- 
ing ' ' of trifling with the patience and mercy of God till 
there is no other repentance possible for you than that of 
unassisted nature — the deadl} T sorrow of a soul that has 
gained a sight of the guilt and the consequences of its 
sin, and has lost the sight of its Saviour." 

Here we must take leave of this painful theme. It 
spreads before us a volume rather than a text. We have 
drawn enough from its dark pages to know that their 
contents are infinitely important. My dear friends, if 
you will ponder them seriously as you ought, that lurid 
beacon-light which the apostate's perfidy and doom have 
kindled in the far gloom of the past will be for you a 
salutary vision, a signal to point you to holiness and 
heaven. May God help us all to be so startled and ad- 
monished by it, that the torturing convictions, the - un- 
availing regrets, the despairing lamentations, which 
gathered around the suicide of Judas, may never be re- 
peated at our dying hour ! 



The happy service. 

An Expository Sermon Preached before the 18th Virginia 
Regiment, 1861. 

BY R. L. DABNEY, D. D. 



"Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me : 
for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest unto 
your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." — 
Matt. xi. 28-30. 

THIS world, my brethren, is a weary one. If any of 
you think not so, I can but liken you to inexperi- 
enced youths, who are summoned in the morning to 
set out on a toilsome journey, and in their ignorance of 
its real character, suppose it to be a pastime, because the 
adjuncts of the hour of setting forth are pleasant. They 
are in raptures with the free motion, and the exercise of 
their own exuberant energies, with the perfumed breath 
of dewy morn, with the fields glittering with liquid 
pearls, with the eastern sky bathed in crimson and gold, 
and with the beams of the rising sun. They bound 
along the way in sport, wasting the vigor which they 
will sorely need ere nightfall. They forget the sultry 
hours of the afternoon, when this cheering sun shall 
have put on its fervid heats, the dusty, lengthening 
miles, the thirst, and hunger, the aching limbs, with 
which they must drag themselves at evening towards a 
goal which seems ever to recede. 

But no man lives long enough to learn what life truly 
is, without reaching the conviction that this is a weary 
world. We "labor and are heavy laden." How pre- 
99 



IOO SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

cious and timely, then, is the promise of rest to such 
beings ? Many of you are weary and burdened with the 
impossible endeavor to feed an immortal mind with 
earthly food. Some perhaps are heavy laden with their 
toils of self- righteousness, while they go about to establish 
their own acceptance with God, grievously galled by an 
uneasy, disapproving conscience. A few, I trust, are 
laboring with the salutary burden of conviction for sin, and 
conscious guilt. Some of you are wearying yourselves 
in vain, with the effort to break your bondage under sin 
in your own strength. God's people among you are op- 
pressed with the "heat and burden of the day," while 
they strive, painfully, yet with better heart and hope, 
"to make their calling and election sure." Many are 
crushed with sorrows and bereavements, or with anxie- 
ties and fears. All these are invited by the benevolent 
Redeemer to come and find rest in him. Whatever may 
be their burden, he promises a gracious relief. How 
general, then, ought the interest in these divine words to 
be ; and how eager ? 

When we are invited, "come unto me," we under- 
stand, of course, that this coming is not a corporeal ap- 
proach to Christ's local habitation, which is not possible 
for us, in the flesh, nor necessary ; but the embracing of 
his redemption by faith. This usage of the word is too 
well established in our Saviour's preaching to need 
much illustration. When, for instance, he says (John 
vi. 35), " he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and 
he that believeth on me shall never thirst, ' ' the coming 
is manifestly faith. The yoke which we are to take up 
is the service of Christ. And when rest is promised to 
those who believe, and who obey, it is not bodily indo- 
lence, or sensual ease, which the Saviour offers, but 
inward peace. He himself defines it in the subsequent 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. IOI 

words, as "rest to our souls." He may call us to 
stormy trials for his sake ; lie assuredly will call us to 
diligent, persevering labors for his cause ; but he guar- 
antees to us that sweet repose of soul, with which out- 
ward toils are light, and without which the ease and 
prosperity of sin are but a mocking torture. The main 
doctrine taught us, then, in this passage, is, that — 

First, Our Peace is to be found in embracing Christ a?id 
his set vice by faith. 

At the threshold of the subject, we are met by this 
inquiry : Who is it that makes this generous offer of rest 
to all the weary and heavy laden of earth? Consider 
how much is implied in it. To fulfil the obligation 
which is thus assumed will require no small resources of 
wealth, power, and love. To succor the multitudinous 
evils of humanity is, indeed, a mighty undertaking. Let 
us suppose that the mightiest emperor of earth, or the 
most powerful angel in heaven, had ventured such an 
invitation as this, and that it had been universally 
accepted. Before this vast aggregate of the wants and 
woes of men, his resources would seem to shrink into a 
mite, and the greatest finite mind would reel and stagger 
in the mere attempt to comprehend, as all created riches 
would be absorbed a thousand times in relieving the 
mighty mass. Who is this, then, that calmly stands up 
and announces to his dying race the audacious proposal ? 
"Come one, come all, to me; and /will give you rest." 
Is this the Nazarene, the carpenter's son ; the man who 
' ' had not where to lay his head ' ' ? How dare he pledge 
to suffering mankind, he, in his beggary, a relief which 
Caesar, upon the throne of imperial Rome, with all the 
legions of her armies bowing to his sceptre, and all the 
nations of the civilized globe pouring their tributes into 
his royal treasury, would not presume to undertake? 



102 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

If he is only what he seems, well may scribe and Pharisee 
resent with hot indignation the insolence of such impos- 
ture; and say, this man at once blasphemes God, in 
assuming a prerogative of compassion which belongs to 
him alone, and mocks the miseries of man, by vainly 
offering to take them all upon his puny arm. 

Be assured, my brethren, that the holy Jesus would 
have been incapable of using this language had he not 
been conscious that he was not only man, but God. It 
was because he could claim : ' "I and my Father are 
one " ; "It pleased the Father that in him should all 
fulness dwell." "He hath set him at his own right 
hand in heavenly places, and hath put all things under 
his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the 
church." Unless the Son of man hath power on earth 
to forgive sins, and infinite attributes of omniscience and 
omnipotence, he cannot give peace to mankind. But he 
is both God and man. Unless the charge of insincerity 
and imposture can be brought against his character, this 
promise compels us to receive his proper divinity ; and 
here, my brethren, is the foundation of our trust in him. 
Because he hath in himself all the fulness of the Godhead, 
therefore we can rely upon his love, power, wisdom and 
faithfulness, to make us happy in our dedication to him. 
Thus, the apparent paradox at the outset of his invita- 
tion is turned into a noble support of its solidity. 

Second, We read assurance of our peace and blessed- 
ness in Christ in the nature of the yoke which we are 
invited to receive. "Take my yoke upon you, and 
learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls." 

Here, again, there appears to the unbeliever a still 
greater paradox ; he is invited to look for rest in assum- 
1 Jno. x. 30; Col. i. n); Eph. i. 21-23. 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. 103 

ing a yoke ! It is when the yoke is unbound and the 
wearied ox is released to follow his own will pasture- 
ward, that he finds rest. So the perpetual delusion of 
the unbeliever is, that he can find his preferred happiness 
in the emancipation of his soul from the dreaded re- 
straints of Christianity, and in this alone. This error, 
we trust, may be dissolved by reminding you of a few 
plain facts. The first is, that there is no such possible 
alternative for you, as you vainly dream, between the 
bearing of Christ's yoke and entire immunity. No; the 
only real choice within your reach is that between the 
yoke of Christ and the yoke of sin, of which Satan is the 
master. Now, if this is so, manifestly, one may be 
reasonably invited to seek the relief of his toil by ex- 
changing a cruel and unrighteous bondage for a mild and 
righteous service. But I repeat, no man is free, or can 
be ; all who do not bear the yoke of Christ, groan under 
that of sin and Satan. Such is the testimony of the 
Scriptures. "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, whosoever committeth sin, is the servant 
of sin." "Thou art in the gall of bitterness, and the 
bond of iniquity." They are "taken captive by the 
devil at his will." 1 I appeal to your own experience: 
Is the most reckless sinner really free from constraint? 
I speak not of the bonds of discipline ; but in other 
respects, is he at liberty to regulate his actions by his 
own preferences ? Nay ; how often does his own pas- 
sion and sin lay him under the most cruel restraint 
and self-denial? His delusive enjoyments in trans- 
gression are often purchased at a heavy cost, and then 
concealed at the expense of irksome sacrifices of in- 
clination. These are but instances of the pinching 
of Satan's yoke. Here, then, is the choice which 
1 Jno. viii. 34; Acts viii. 23; 2 Tim. ii. 26. 



104 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

you have to make, transgressor; not whether you may 
repudiate every yoke and go free as the wild ass of the 
desert described by Job ; but whether it will most conduce 
to the repose of your soul to bear the yoke of Christ, 
your loving Redeemer, or of Satan, the soul-murderer. 
The first is right and reasonable (your own conscience 
avouches it), and your heavenly Master deals honestly 
and graciously with you. He lays it upon your shoulder; 
but he assists you with his loving and almighty hand to 
bear it ; he solaces your labor with the sweetest foretastes 
of an approving conscience and heavenly hope ; he makes 
it grow perpetually lighter by the growth of holy habi- 
tudes of soul ; and at the end he converts it into a crown 
of glory. But Satan, a "liar from the beginning," 
brings his foul, unrighteous yoke to you, concealed with 
frippery, and persuades you that it is but a toy. Thus 
he binds it upon your neck, and when he has befooled 
you effectually, leaves you to bear it unaided, or mocks 
you with sardonic malice, while it grows ever more 
weighty ; and having galled you like iron here, crushes 
your miserable soul at last into perdition. Under which, 
now, of these yokes will you find rest to your souls? 

The second fact is, that it is not apathetic indolence or 
sensual ease which Christ promises, but rest for the 
soul. It consists of peace of conscience, harmony of the 
affections, and the enjoyment of legitimate and ennobling 
exercise for all the powers. Man's true well-being re- 
quires activity. Even an ancient pagan sage learned 
enough of this truth to define happiness as ' ' virtuous 
energy." This definition we may accept if we be per- 
mitted to take it in the sense of the normal and healthy 
exercise of the soul's powers. He who has no rule of 
life, no worthy aim, no duty, can never be happy, because 
he puts forth no virtuous energy. He who bears the 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. IO5 

right yoke, or, in other words, has assigned to him the 
proper activities, is the man who truly enjoys his exis- 
tence. 

Third, We may expect rest under the yoke of Christ 
because of the character of our Master. ' ' He is meek 
and lowly in heart, and we shall find rest unto our 
souls." He is a gentle, kindly, tender master. A 
merciful master makes an easy service. His benevo- 
lence makes him watchful of the welfare of his servants, 
and considerate in dealing with their infirmities. His 
lowliness of heart ensures that he will never sacrifice the 
happiness and lives of his subjects in reckless and am- 
bitious enterprises. He is not a tyrant to drag his 
wretched subjects, like an Alexander, or a Tamerlane, 
through frozen wilds and burning wastes, and to pour 
out their blood as a libation to the idol of his fame. He 
is the prince of peace, whose sceptre is truth and meek- 
ness and righteousness, and whose law is love. To his 
own people, he is the " Lamb of God," who loved them 
and gave himself for them. How, then, is it possible 
that he, in regulating the lives and services of his ran- 
somed ones, should impose on them any other law than 
one which conduces to their truest well-being? To 
dread the yoke of Christ is guilty mistrust and unbelief. 

But we shall not acquire the richest meaning of the 
passage, unless we include the connection of the clause, 
"learn of me," with the rest of the verse. Saith the 
Saviour, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." 
What shall we learn of him? Obviously, we learn of 
his meekness and lowliness of heart, how to take the 
yoke and how to wear it. Thus shall we find true re- 
pose of soul. This is but teaching us, my brethren, 
that if we would have true peace, we must imitate the 
spirit with which our Redeemer fulfilled the will of his 



106 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Father, and bore his cross. No more complete and ready- 
method of proof appears to establish this assertion than 
to ask you to form to yourselves a conception of the in- 
ward life of such a man as the man Jesus. Suppose a 
servant of God, endued with just his affection and bene- 
volence, with his unselfish disinterestedness, with his 
purity, with his forgiving temper, with his magnani- 
mity, with his elevated devotion, and moving among us 
in the fulfilment of the duties of the Christian life, 
under the impulse of these lovely sentiments, combined 
with the social ties appropriate to our nature sanctified. 
Does not this at once constitute a picture of a life than 
which none can be conceived more imbuded with the 
sweetness and sunshine of true happiness? Would not 
such a life glow with the very light of heaven's own 
bliss amidst the gloom of our sorrows and sins ? Some 
one may say, perhaps : Such was the temper of Jesus ; 
yet he was ' ' the man of sorrows. ' ' True ; but it was 
because he "bore our griefs and carried our sorrows." 
It was the burthen of our guilt which pressed upon that 
pure and holy heart. Let us suppose that he had borne 
no load of obloquy, of death, and of divine desertion for 
us ; that he had enjoyed the friends and outward bless- 
ings with which our lot is crowned ; and had experienced 
no heavier chastisements than God's fatherly mercy ap- 
points to his adopted children here, sustained by the 
consolations of his grace. Then, indeed, would his life 
have been one of heavenly peace within. And such 
would ours be if we learned of him, his heavenly tem- 
per. Reproach and opposition might still befall us, for 
we should still be in a wicked world ; but the serene spirit 
of conscious rectitude and of forgiveness would sustain 
our souls in a loftier atmosphere, high above the flights 
of all the embittered shafts of malice. Pain, fatigue, 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. IO7 

sickness, would still visit us ; but the spirit, baptized in 
peace, would sustain our infirmity. Our hearts would 
sometimes bleed with bereavements ; for we should still 
be sinners, although pardoned; yet there would be no 
poison in the wound, for the assurance of the love of the 
hand which directed the stroke would medicate our pain. 
If, then, we would find rest to our souls, let us learn to 
imbibe the temper of the meek and lowly Jesus, and to 
bear his yoke with that devoted spirit with which he 
fulfilled his Father's will in living and dying for us. 

Fotttth, In the concluding verse our Saviour gives this 
crowning argument: "For my yoke is easy, and my 
burden is light; and ye shall find rest to your souis." 
But this reasoning the unbeliever repells with more in- 
credulity than anything that has preceded it. The yoke 
easy, and the burden light ! he exclaims. How can this 
be ? Has not Christ himself said, ' ' Strait is the gate, 
and narrow is the way?" Is not the commandment 
declared to be " exceeding broad " : " The righteous 
scarcely are saved." How; then, can it be argued that 
we shall find our true repose of soul in the service of 
Jesus Christ because the burden of it is easy ? 

The unconverted man has often a worse ground of in- 
credulity than this : that of his own experience and con- 
sciousness. He says to himself: " I have endeavored to 
bear that yoke ; I was earnest in my attempt, for was I 
not impelled to it by the infinite moment of the worth of 
an immortal soul, the sense of dreadful guilt, the terrors 
of an endless hell? I strove hard to live the Christian 
life. Often I renewed my struggle, even with almost 
despairing bitterness ; but the task was too great. I 
have relinquished it, and again I am living the life of 
careless impenitence, conscious that the danger of perdi- 
tion is not removed, but only veiled partially from my 



Io8 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

own eyes by my insensibility, well aware that my con- 
science is not cleansed, but only seared. So well have I 
learned, by my own miserable experiments, that this 
grievous yoke of Christianity would crush out every 
enjoyment of life for me, if borne in earnest, that I am 
now stubbornly braving the appalling risks of an unpre- 
pared death and a lost immortality, rather than face the 
burden again at present. And after all this, would the 
preacher persuade me that ' ' the yoke is easy and the 
burden light ? Alas ! I know better ! ' ' 

Such is the skepticism, and such its ground which 
most adult transgressors read in their own hearts, when 
they scan their contents honestly. Say, unbeliever, 
have I not given correct form to your inmost thought? 
And your most intimate conviction is at points with the 
express declaration of your Saviour. How shall I 
attempt to solve this crowning paradox for you, and to 
reconcile your unbelief to this gracious truth ? This is 
a task which the Holy Spirit can alone accomplish with 
efficacy ; and, thanks to him, he does not require the 
execution of it from his ministers. Nothing but a true 
conversion by his power, experienced in the heart, can 
enable the sinner to appreciate the nature of Christ's 
service. The blind man cannot be taught precisely what 
are the beauties of the spring before his eyes are opened. 
But yet something may be said to obviate your incred- 
ulity ; something which, though it will not make you 
comprehend how this yoke becomes light, may yet enable 
you to apprehend that it is not unreasonable it should 
become so to the believer. 

Remember, then, that the declarations which the 
Scriptures make of the straitness and difficulty of the 
Christian's way refer always to man's native unassisted 
strength. Relatively to that strength, the way is indeed 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. IO9 

arduous. It is impossible to exaggerate its difficulty; 
if we should persuade the unconverted heart that it is 
absolutely certain his unaided strength and resolution 
will fail before it, we should be strictly true. And now, 
I appeal to your own consciousness : Were not those ill- 
starred efforts to serve Christ, whose failure now so dis- 
courages you, made in your own poor strength? Did 
you not begin them unconvinced of your impotency? 
Was not this the thought of your heart : ' ' Seeing the 
danger of my soul, /, as a rational being, will resolve ; 
and / will fulfil what I resolve. I shall not be an incon- 
sistent, half-way Christian, like these despised ones 
whose blemishes have so often been the butt of my con- 
tempt. I shall reform my life truly, and keep the law, 
and thus prepare and recommend myself for gospel for- 
giveness." Did you form those purposes of piety and 
make those efforts, in explicit, full dependence on a 
spiritual ability to be communicated to you by Christ, of 
free grace, so that your sole encouragement to attempt 
them was his faithful word of promise? Alas, no! 
And therefore your service of him was a mortifying 
failure. Now I beg you to weigh the real statement of 
your Saviour in the text. He has never said that the 
yoke would be easy, or the burden light to a soul which 
attempted to lift it apart from him. What he taught was 
this: that he who "cometh" to him, he who "learns 
of him ' ' shall find the yoke easy. This you refused to 
do ; you have never really tested the correctness of 
(Jhrist's declarations ; you have, in fact, no experience 
whatever upon the subject. 

"But 1 when we were yet without strength, in due 
time Christ died for the ungodly." And one chief por- 
tion of his purchase for us was enabling grace, which is 
1 Rom. v. 6. 



I IO SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

offered to our faith on the same terms with remission of 
sin. Hear now some of the blessed assurances of this 
fact : ' "If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new crea- 
ture ; old things have passed away ; behold all things 
have become new ; and all things are of God." ' "I am 
crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now live 
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
loved me, and gave himself for me." 3 "And he said 
unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee : for my strength 
is made perfect in weakness." 4 "A new heart also will 
I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you : and 
I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I 
will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit 
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and 
ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." 

If these precious promises are true, is it not clear that 
he who has them fulfilled in his soul may reasonably ex- 
pect a wholly different experience from yours in bearing 
the yoke ? Here new views of truth are given : a spir- 
itual ability is awakened in the faculties hitherto misdi- 
rected to sin and sense ; man's impotence of will for 
spiritual good is renovated by the almighty will of the 
Spirit. If, indeed, Christ does all this in him who comes 
and learns of him and takes his yoke, plainly that ser- 
vice may be easy and pleasant to him which before 
was intolerable. Sometimes the curious child, straying 
where the laborers have laid down their implements, 
takes up the axe or scythe adapted to a man's strength, 
and undertakes to use it. But his youthful limbs are 
unequal to the task ; his toil is excessive ; his breath 
heaves with panting, his heart throbs, and his joints 

1 2 Cor. v. 17. 2 Gal. ii. 20, 
3 2 Cor. xii. 9. 4 Ezek. xxxvi. 28, 26. 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. Ill 

quiver with fatigue. As he lays it down, he concludes 
perhaps, thus: "How burdensome and repulsive must 
the life of the laborer be ! Surely every pleasure of ex- 
istence is crushed out by his excessive toil ! Yet he 
is mistaken ; he has judged their tasks by his measure of 
strength. They have the muscles of men ; and when 
they come forth in the breezy fields or fragrant woods, 
refreshed with food and their veins rich with lusty blood, 
there is a positive joy in the vigorous swing of these wea- 
pons of sturdy and honest labor. Similar is the error 
which you have made, when you have attempted to bear 
Christ's yoke in your own strength, which is weakness ; 
and overpowered by the burden, have inferred that Christ 
cannot make it light by his grace. 

But there is another solution, which is, if possible, 
more important. It is found in the difference of motive 
and affection by which the service of the believer and 
that of the unbeliever are prompted. Those labors are 
easy and pleasant which are inspired by love, however 
absorbing they may be of time and strength. But if they 
are compelled by reluctant fear and rendered in hatred, 
the lightest exertions gall the heart. The man who is 
incapable of domestic love looks on the toils of the labori- 
ous father with disgust ; he thinks his life that of a galley 
slave ; and says to himself that no power nor price on 
earth shall ever bend him to so irksome a bondage. But 
does that careful parent think so? Nay, his labors, his 
crops, the glebe watered with the honest sweat of his 
brow, are dear to him ; he cherishes them with all the 
affectionate interest of heart's treasures ; they feed those 
whom he loves. As he pursues his busy tillage through 
the sultry hours, although he does feel the heat and 
burden of the day, he is happy in his endurance ; because 
he has before him the peaceful home which is blessed 



112 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

with the fruits of these labors, the board spread with 
bounty by the work of his sturdy hand, with the smiling 
faces around it, the welcome of pattering feet and gleeful 
voices, and childish arms about his neck, which he ex- 
pects to meet him as he returns at eve, heavy perhaps of 
limb, but light of heart, from his daily tasks, and the 
loving smile of the thoughtful mate, who keeps the 
hearth bright for his coming. Go now, to that man, and 
tempt him to leave his fields for some scene of sinful 
amusement ; tell him that his daily labor is nothing but 
a miserable drudgery, and that it is time for him to seek 
enjoyment abroad. Will he hearken ? No ; his labor is 
his enjoyment; those guilty and mischievous scenes 
have no allurement for him, because love makes him 
happy enough in his industry. 

Or, if this instance is not enough, we may find a more 
conclusive one in that which is the strongest and purest 
of all affections found among sinful men, the love of a 
mother for her babe. And this, also, imposes the sever- 
est toils which any of the duties of common life require. 
As the young female, a stranger as yet to this devoted 
love, witnesses the sacrifices of some mother, lately her 
comrade, amidst the perpetual watchings and sleepless 
cares of the nursery, it may be that she looks on with 
disgust and dread, and she says to herself, not for all 
the world would I submit to such an abhorred burden. 
But the time comes when the fountain of maternal love 
is opened in her heart also. Now see the recent vota- 
ress of fashion ! How zealously does she forsake the 
admiration of society, and sacrifice the bloom of her 
beauty, lately so much prized, amidst the vigils of her 
domestic tasks. These cares are no longer repulsive. 
Propose to her to resign her tender charge wholly to 
some hireling, whose well-paid skill will probably far 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. 



13 



surpass her inexperience in providing for its welfare, 
and to return to the delights of the ball-room. She will 
reject it, and as she presses her infant to her bosom, will 
declare that no joy of earth is so sweet as the care of this 
darling object. Whence this change? It is because a 
new love has been born along with her offspring. The 
yoke of love is ever easy, and its burden is light. 

In like manner, if he who comes to Christ and learns 
of him, learns thereby to love, this new motive abun- 
dantly explains the fact to you, sinner, so incredible, 
that his yoke becomes easy. For, I take your own 
heart to witness, that in your former efforts to live a re- 
ligious life, no love animated your resolve. The world 
and self-will were still sweet to you intrinsically. If 
you felt the sting and bitterness of any of your sins, it 
was only because self-love was terrified by the looming 
of the danger they incurred. The Christian life was 
abhorrent to your secret heart ; and the language of your 
inner thought was that this divine Master was an austere 
man whose service you would defy if you dared. Poor, 
unwilling captive ! No wonder your service, wrung by 
fear from a bitter, reluctant heart, was a galling bond- 
age. 

But now remember the blessed truth already estab- 
lished from the Scripture : that when a believing soul 
embraces the cross, Christ "crucifies the enmity there- 
by" ; that he engages to take away the stony heart out 
of our flesh and give us a heart of flesh ; that when he 
reconciles God to us by his atonement, he also reconciles 
us to God by our effectual calling, and sheds abroad his 
love upon our hearts. Then, as the regenerated sinner 
considers the amazing love and condescension of a Re- 
deemer God, stooping to death to rescue him from un- 
utterable ruin, a new-born gratitude conspires with 



114 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

adoration for his excellences, and he begins to say, "I 
love him because he first loved me. ' ' Then the love of 
Christ constraining him becomes the spring of a joyful 
obedience ; and he sings with devout delight, in the 
language of David, "O Lord, truly I am thy servant : I 
am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid. Thou 
hast loosed my bonds." This is the way, sinner, the 
yoke is made easy and the burden light ! Cannot you 
apprehend it? 

Perhaps such a glimpse of the beauty and glory of the 
cross hath penetrated your heart (which may God grant), 
that you are almost ready to say : ' ' Ah ! if I could only 
claim that wondrous Saviour as mine, if I could believe 
that the divine blood was indeed shed for my sins ; that 
the burning throne, whose just wrath now blights every 
look which my wretched soul turns towards God with 
fear and enmity, was changed for me into a throne of 
grace ; that this dreadful God was indeed reconciled, and 
was become a tender Father, I, too, could love — I, too, 
could serve with hope and cheerful obedience. But how 
shall I know this ? How read the secret verdict of 
heaven, which requites and adopts the object of almighty 
grace ? 

I will tell you how. But first let me warn you not to 
mistake the obstinacy of your own native opposition to 
God. If you think that the mere apprehension of your 
own interest in the cross, and of the excellence and love 
displayed therein towards you will be enough of itself 
without the invoking of the sovereign Spirit to renovate 
your obdurate heart, you will be disappointed. No doc- 
trine, no moral suasion alone, not even that of dying 
love, will melt that flinty thing ; nothing but the power 
divine which first created it. But if you feel that you 
could indeed love Christ, if only you were assured that 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. II5 

he had first loved you, then it is my delightful commis- 
sion to tell you that you may claim that privilege of lov- 
ing. Christ invites you. His own words are : ' ' Who- 
soever will, let him come." He tells us that the man 
upon whom God's secret verdict of the heavenly justifi- 
cation and adoption is passed, is he who is truly willing 
to embrace and to serve Christ. Are you willing? 
Then you are one of those for whom the invitation is 
sent. Come, then, thou weary, heavy-laden soul ; 
' ' Come to Jesus and he will give you rest. Take his 
yoke upon you and learn of him ; for he is meek and 
lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest to your souls. For 
his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. ' ' 

Permit me, in closing this discourse, to point out two 
instructive lessons which are contained in these words of 
the Saviour. 

One is, that faith always includes an immediate as- 
sumption of all known duty. Christ here explains 
1 ' coming to him ' ' in verse twenty-eight (which is his 
customary expression for believing), by taking up the 
yoke and learning of him in verse twenty-nine. The 
true believer, although of all men most impressed with 
his own impotency to live the Christian life aright, im- 
mediately sets about that very thing. It is because the 
gospel promise pledges Christ's strength to make the 
yoke easy ; and the function of faith is to embrace the 
promise just as it is. Now, there is somebody here 
whose failure and distress are all explained by this re- 
mark. My brother, you think you comprehend and 
approve the plan for a sinner's pardon through Christ, 
and that you can trust it. But you have not found rest 
for your soul ? It is because there is some yoke, some 
duty, which you have not assumed. What is it? You 
know; I do not. God does. Take it up like a man; 



Il6 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

do it now, not self- righteously but belie vingly, and you 
will find the blessed rest. 

Second, There is somebody else here who thinks he 
sees and craves the blessedness of the soul which has 
received the conscious assurance, in its own. exercises, 
of being saved in Christ. He says, "Oh! if I could 
only feel in my heart these new-born affections and thus 
know my interest in him, how joyfully would I flee to 
him and embrace him with his service ; and no toils nor 
sacrifices should tempt my happy heart for one moment 
to forsake his yoke. But alas ! when I look within, all 
is cold and dark. How can I venture with this unre- 
newed heart? 

The answer which Christ here implies is this : The 
conscious, inward experience of his grace is bestowed by 
your coming and when you come, not before. Hear 
him : ' ' Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, "... 
"and ye shall find rest to your souls." You must find 
it by taking the yoke, not before you take it. You must 
venture on his divine word, trusting that alone, and 
committing yourself to his fidelity in advance of your 
own experience. And does not he deserve this, who 
died for you ? Cannot you trust him ? If he saved you 
by the method you desire, your trust would be, after all, 
not on him but on your own experiences. How sandy 
a foundation ! 

But there is a more offensive form of this mistrust. 
Some anxious, convinced souls would fain have the 
peace ; but they are loath to commit , themselves irrevo- 
cably to Christ's yoke until they have made a sort of 
conditional experiment for themselves of the comfort and 
ease with which they may bear it. They cannot trust 
the word and oath of the Saviour who is the God, and 
who so loved them as to lay down his life for their souls. 



THE HAPPY SERVICE. II7 

No; they must be allowed to finger the yoke, to weigh 
it in their hands, to judge how it will wear, and then, if 
they like it, perhaps Christ will be permitted to bind it 
on permanently. Deluded soul! Of course the yoke, 
thus tried, will not wear lightly. And what is such 
mistrust but an insult to the majesty, the love, the faith- 
fulness of Christ ? He will not traffic with you for your 
deliverance on such terms as these. You must trust 
yourself without reserve to his fidelity, or he will turn 
with holy scorn from your insolent proposal, and leave 
your miserable soul to perish in its doubts. "The fear- 
ful ' ' (they who are too timid to trust themselves to the 
faithfulness of their God and Saviour) ' ' and unbelieving 
and abominable .... shall have their part in the lake 
which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the 
second death." (Rev. xxi. 8.) 



SEEKING THE LORD. 

BY J. W. ROSEBRO, D. D., 
Pastor of T abb-Street Presbyterian Church, Petersburg, Va. 



" Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him 
while he is near." — Isaiah lv. 6. 

THE fifty-third, fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth chapters 
of Isaiah should be studied together. They are 
closely and logically connected. In the fifty- 
third chapter, the great foundation truth of redemption 
is laid. The hope of Israel and of the world is in the 
suffering Messiah, who "was wounded for our trans- 
gression ' ' and ' ' bruised for our iniquities " ; on whom 
the Lord hath laid the iniquity of us all. 

The fifty -fourth shows us the church built on this 
great foundation. "I will lay thy stones with fair 
colors and lay thy foundation with sapphires." She 
stands as the House Beautiful with her chamber called 
"Peace" that always looked to the sun-rise. There 
can be no such church except as built on the suffering 
and death of him who made "his soul an offering for 
sin." 

Then, in the fifty-fifth chapter, this glorious church 
flings her doors wide open in the world-wide invitation 
from her Lord, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye 
to the waters." But there could be no such invitation, 
nor any church to give it if Jesus had not died. The 
great invitation of the fifty- Ifth is made possible by the 
truth given in the fifty -third. Bear this in mind. ■ 



SEEKING THE LORD. Iig 

Our text gives us a command, a. promise and a warning. 

I. The command is, "Seek ye the Lord." It comes 
from one who has the right to command. Let not the 
fulness and freeness of the invitation lead you to think 
you have nothing to do. It is true Jesus says he came 
to seek as well as save the lost ; yet he also declares we 
must seek if we would find. It is true, he stands at the 
door and knocks, yet must we knock if we would have 
it opened unto us. It is true, God opens wide the door 
of his grace and proclaims, ' ' whosoever will may come ' ' ; 
yet must we "strive to enter in." He offers the water 
of life ' ' without money ' ' ; yet must we ' ' buy ' ' it. 
God presses the gift of eternal life on us ; yet is it true, 
' ' I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of 
Israel." God forces himself on no soul. He offers 
himself, and then it is our privilege, our duty to ' ' seek 
the Lord. ' ' We cannot sit down and wait for salvation ; 
we must seek the Lord, though he is not far from us. 

Many of the young make the mistake of thinking that 
religion will come to them sometime in the future, and 
that they need not concern themselves to ' ' seek. ' ' In 
every community there are a number of men of excellent 
character who hope that some day, through the prayers 
of their Christian wives, they will become Christians, 
yet never stop earnestly to seek for themselves. So the 
years go by and they drift farther and farther from the 
things they have heard. Hear all ye what God declares, 
" Seek ye the Lord." We must seek with all the heart. 
Then shall ye seek me and ye shall find me, when ye 
seek me with all the heart. Can you hope by a few fit- 
ful seekings to find the Lord? Seek as you do earthly 
prizes. What earnestness! What self-denial! What 
difficulties are struggled against and overcome ! And 
for what ? For corruptible crowns ! Alas ! for the in- 



120 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

corruptible crown you are not willing to take a little time 
for serious thought and prayer. The slightest hindrance 
will turn aside your purpose. The difficulties in your 
way are but the test of earnestness. , When Jesus an- 
swered not a word to the prayer of the anguished mother 
pleading for her child; yea, when he cast her heathen 
origin in her face, and told her that heathen dogs had no 
right to the children's bread, she only drew the closer 
and put a deeper power in her appeal : ' ' Lord, help me." 
When the crowd bade Bartimeus hush his cry, he but 
"cried out the more exceedingly." When the press 
about the Lord prevented the four who bore the palsied 
man from entering the door, they climbed to the roof 
and opened a way and showed their faith. Yet here are 
blessings, needed by you and offered to you, richer than 
ever blind begged for or palsied needed ; yet, when Jesus 
is ' ' near ' ' to give these, and is ' ' passing by " no more 
to return for some, you let any hindrance stop you. 
The fear of man, some business call, an invitation of 
pleasure, the faults of some Christian, any slight hin- 
drance, is excuse enough for your neglect. What is it 
you are thus lightly treating? It is eternal life. 

Oh! that it could be deeply impressed on you that 
while divine love has thrown wide open the door of life 
and written over it so all may see its words of welcome, 
"Ho, every one," still you must strive to enter. Hear, 
then, God's command, "Seek ye the Lord." 

II. A promise is in the text, though it is implied, 
not distinctly stated. If God invites us to come and 
commands us to come, there is surely an implied promise 
of acceptance, when we obey the command and accept 
the invitation. He has filled his book with richest pro- 
mises and holds up before us one illustration after an- 
other, that we may see how sinful souls came to accept 



SEEKING THE LORD. 121 

his invitation and that none ever went away unblest. 
He assures us that the favor of God standeth sure, and 
that "whosoever" cometh to drink of this water shall 
receive it without money. 

Now we may turn to consider the full confidence given 
us by the great truth taught in the fifty-third chapter. 
When our sins and fears arise and make us ask, ' ' Can 
God accept and forgive me ' ' ? God answers by showing 
us one already ' ' wounded for our transgressions ' ' and 
' ' bruised for our iniquities ; ' ' the stripes due for our sin 
have been laid on him, and "with his stripes we are 
healed. ' ' Jesus has ' ' made his soul an offering for sin, ' ' 
therefore he can be just yet justify you, ungodly as you 
are. That chapter assures us — 

" That love unknown 
Has broken every barrier down." 

It is a glorious, amazing truth, that since Jesus died God 
is graciously bound to receive every soul that comes 
trusting in Jesus who died. See how beautifully this 
was illustrated in the case of Mephibosheth, Jonathan's 
son. You remember he was injured when a child and 
was always "lame on both his feet." When David 
came to the throne he sought the descendants of Jonathan 
that he might show to them "the kindness of God." 
But Mephibosheth thought David meant evil to him, and 
he was afraid and tried to escape and hide himself. When 
at last found and brought before David he came with 
fear and fell on his face. Yet did the king meet him 
with the gracious words, " I will surely shew thee kind- 
ness for Jonathan, thy father's sake." When Mephi- 
bosheth answered, "What is thy servant, that thou 
shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I ? " What did 
David virtually reply? "I am not thinking of whether 



122 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

you are comely as Absalom, or lame on both your feet ; 
I am thinking of Jonathan, of my love to him and of my 
covenant with him. That covenant binds me to show 
kindness to you, therefore you shall be as a king's son 
and sit ever at my table. ' ' 

David and Jonathan had made a ' ' blood covenant ' ' 
together. The blood of each flowed in the other and that 
covenant could not be broken. Therefore was David 
bound to show kindness to Jonathan's son. 

Oh, poor sinner! you have been running away from 
God, and, when at last the Holy Spirit lead you to fall 
before him, your sin makes you feel you are all unworthy 
the least notice or favor. Why should he look on ' ' such 
a dead dog as I am?" With wondrous love God lifts 
you up and says, ' ' There is a blood covenant between 
me and my Son. By that covenant I am bound to show 
the kindness of God to all for whom Jesus died and who 
come to me by him. I cannot turn you away if I would. 
You may feel all unworthy a place at the King's table, 
but I make you as one of the King's sons and you shall 
sit at my table forever. ' ' 

What absolute confidence is given to us by that invi- 
tation which says, "Ho, every one," and then points 
to the fifty-third chapter as giving us ' ' all the fitness he 
requireth ' ' ! You see, you do not need to be cured of 
your lame legs before he will show kindness. We are 
ever putting the seventh verse of this chapter before the 
sixth. We say, "I will forsake my wicked ways and 
give up my unrighteous thoughts, then seek the Lord." 
"No," God says, "come to me first, then you shall be 
strengthened to forsake your wicked ways. I put the 
sixth verse before the seventh. ' ' What avails it to the 
leper to cure a few of his sores when the fatal disease is 
sent out from the heart in the blood ? Come, ye lepers, 



SEEKING THE LORD. 123 

to the Son of man. Let his merciful touch make you 
clean. Wait not to rid your soul of one dark blot, 

1 ' To thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
O, Lamb of God, I come, I come." 

Nor need you fear that you may be shut out because you 
are not of the elect. It is true that God chooses us and 
that we are ' ' chosen before the foundation of the world. ' ' 
Yet he has left us the power ' ' to choose whom we will 
serve." Paul does not hesitate to reaffirm the Saviour's 
teaching, that we owe our salvation to the sovereign 
electing love of God. Yet, side by side with this great 
truth he presses our responsibility. In the ninth chap- 
ter of Romans he presents the great subject of predesti- 
nation in such a way that it gives some the cold chills 
to read it ; yet he closes the subject by showing us in 
the last verse of the tenth chapter, God standing with 
outstretched hands of loving, earnest entreaty, and say- 
ing, "All day long I have stretched forth my hands." 

We only ' ' darken counsel with words ' ' when we 
attempt to explain how God is sovereign in his electing 
love, and yet has left to us the power of choice. How- 
ever we may fail to understand, we shall never fail to 
find it true that God's decree bars the door in the face of 
none who seek to enter. While election shuts a great 
many in, we know it shuts none out. So far from that 
being true, he has flung that door wide open and stands 
' ' all day long ' ' stretching out his hands and saying, 
" Whosoever will, let him come." It is wonderful, 
wonderful ! All day long, all day long. Does that look 
like God had shut the door ? Nay, you must run away 
from God's loving entreaty and hide yourself from that 
invitation which follows you ' ' all day lo?ig. ' ' 

Thus, you see, the question with you is not will God 



124 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

receive me when I seek him, but will I let him find me? 
The question is not will he hear me when I pray, but 
will I hear him beseeching me? It is not will he open 
to me when I knock and plead, but will I open to him 
knocking and saying, "Rise and let me in? " It is not 
will he give me eternal life in answer to my anguished 
prayer, but will I take the life which, with a father's 
love, he presses on me? Oh ! every shadow of doubt 
is taken away from us, and we are stripped of every ves- 
tige of an excuse ! 

III. The warning of the text. The preacher would 
not be faithful to you did he not press on your thoughts 
the warning in this text. Do not the words, "while he 
may be found, " " while he is near, ' ' warn us that there 
is a time when he may not be found, when he is not 
near? For one hundred and twenty years God was near 
to the people in the days of Noah, and through the open 
door of the ark God was to be found. At last he shut 
the door. Then it was too late to seek. The door was 
shut and there was no more refuge to be then found 
from the beating storm and whelming waters. Were 
there not five virgins who gave little heed to invitation 
and warning, and who stood at last outside and the door 
was shut? It was the voice of the Bridegroom, no 
longer near, who bade them depart. 

' ' Too late ! too late ! 
Ye cannot enter now." 

There is a time for the husbandman to sow. If he 
sow not neither shall he reap. Ask the Holy Spirit to 
burn into your soul the words in Proverbs i. 24-32 : 
1 ' Because I have called, and ye refused ; I have stretched 
out my hand, and no man regarded ; but ye have set at 
nought all my counsel .... when distress and an- 



SEEKING THE LORD. 1 25 

guish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, 
but I will not answer ; they shall seek me early, but 
they shall not find me." When infinite patience gives 
us up, to whom shall we look for help? When the 
Spirit of grace, long grieved and resisted, takes his sad 
flight, what is left us but the darkness of eternity's night? 

Delude not yourself with the thought, ' ' God will be 
too merciful to let me suffer. ' ' He solemnly declares he 
must. Delude not yourself with the hope that you will 
have another trial in the world to come. There is no 
seco?id probatio?i, as if God had not given you a fair 
chance here. If you lose now, all is lost. The appeal 
of the rich man in hell to Abraham in heaven, and the 
answer given back to the lost man, forever settles it as a 
tremendous fact, that when once we cross the river of 
death, there can be no changes in our destiny. A great 
gulf rolls between heaven and hell, and they "that 
would come from thence ' ' will find that it is forever 
impossible. It must be forever true, ' ' He that believeth 
on the Son hath eternal life, but he that obeyeth not the 
Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abide th on 
him." 

Was it any wonder that when David thought of the 
ungodly going to such a doom that horror should take 
hold upon him ? That Paul could not speak of it without 
weeping ? That tears of divine pity should have fallen 
from the eyes of Jesus, as he beheld the city nearing 
destruction? That the cry should be wrung from the 
heart of God, ' ' How can I give thee up ? " Can you 
then treat such a warning lightly ? 

The hour of your spiritual death may come long before 
the day of your bodily death. Have you never seen 
strong trees standing on the hillside, around which the 
axe had cut a broad girdle, severing the current of its 



126 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

life? This was done in the late spring. All summer 
these trees waved their green leaves as full of life as any 
that stood on the hillside. Yet all who looked at that 
white girdle knew those trees were dead. So may men 
go in and out among us, they may be active in their 
pursuits, and may possess much that is attractive in 
their lives, but the seal of spiritual death is on them. 
Achan died when he stole the wedge of gold, before his 
body was broken with the stones of justice. Ananias 
and Sapphira died when they lied to the Holy Ghost, 
days before their bodies fell at Peter's feet. Herod died 
when he put away John the Baptist's warning words, 
long before his body so miserably perished. 

' ' Spurn not the call to life and light ; 
Regard in time the warning kind; 
That call thou may est not always slight, 
And yet the gate of mercy find. 

' ' Sinner ! perhaps this very day, 
Thy last accepted time may be ; 
Oh ! shouldst thou grieve him now away, 
Then hope may never beam on thee." 

Oh ! God is near us now. Souls are seeking him, and 
finding him near ; are calling on him, and he is found of 
them. Shall this house of prayer be the place where 
you shall decide against him, and shall it be in this 
hushed assembly that the destiny of your soul shall be 
fixed ? 

Several of us lads went one day to see a railroad bridge, 
which the workmen were then building, and which was 
said to be the highest in western North Carolina. We 
were standing at the foot of the highest pillar, guessing 
its height. The foreman came to us, and pointing to 
some bloody marks on the ground said, ' ' There is where 
one of the workmen fell yesterday. He was under the 



SEEKING THE LORD. 



2 7 



influence of drink and would not be warned. He fell 
from the top of that pillar, and here is where we picked 
up his crushed body." We started back from the place. 
It was a solemn spot to us, that marked where the man 
had died. 

But there may be made in this church, while we are 
hearing God's invitation, a spot far more solemn ; one that 
shall mark the place where an immortal soul perished; 
one over which you will weep in eternity, and say: 
"There I refused to hear God, and there I lost my 
soul. ' ' 

Oh! while the Spirit is whispering in your heart, 
"To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your 
heart," while Jesus once more invites, while God is 
near, come ! come ! Provoke not that state in which it 
will be impossible to renew you again to repentance. 
It were better for you, if you had never been born. 

Begin now to seek the Lord. Stop and think. You 
cannot stop and think of your sin and ingratitude against 
such love and patience without coming to repentance. 
You cannot think of Jesus bearing your guilt, of his 
suffering and death for you, without learning to love 
him who thus first loved you. "My people will not 
consider " is the mournful charge God brings against us. 
Therefore does he entreat us to — "Come now let us 
reason together. " " Harden not your heart, ' ' but 
"seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye 
upon him while he is near. ' ' 



OUR REDEEMER'S PRAYER FOR 
CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

BY REV. NEANDER M. WOODS, D. D., 
Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Memphis, Tenn. 



"That they all may be one; as thou. Father, art in me, and I 
in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may be- 
lieve that thou hast sent me." — John xvii. 21. 

A RECENT writer, referring to the prayer of Christ 
recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John's 
Gospel, says, "We have here the words which 
Christ addressed to God in the critical hour of his life — 
the words in which he uttered the deepest feeling and 
thought of his spirit, clarified and concentrated by the 
prospect of death." Melancthon, the great Reformer, 
speaking of it, says, "There is no voice which has ever 
been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, 
more holy, more fruitful, more sublime, than this prayer 
offered up by the Son of God himself. ' ' In recent times 
more than one devout commentator has expressed the 
sentiment that when we stand within the precincts of 
this profound passage of God's word we are on holy 
ground, yea, in the very Holy of Holies. It becomes us, 
therefore, as we enter upon the consideration of a por- 
tion of this wonderful prayer, to take off the shoes from 
our feet, and to invoke the Spirit of all grace to bestow 
upon us that deep humility and reverence of mind we 
would need in coming into the very presence of God. 
As we proceed, let us also bear in mind the fact that this 
128 



our redeemer's prayer, etc. 129 

prayer is a part of Christ's official ministration as our 
divinely authorized Intercessor and High Priest before the 
throne of God. The prayer consists of several distinct 
portions, and I shall now ask your particular attention 
to those four verses (20-23) which relate to the oneness 
or believers. 

Never, perhaps, since the apostolic age, has there 
been manifested throughout Christendom at large so 
deep an interest in the subject of Christian union as has 
been witnessed during this latter half of the nineteenth 
century. The indications to which I allude are such as 
the following, to- wit: the growth, among Christians of 
widely separated faiths, of a larger tolerance of each other' s 
divergencies of belief; an increased readiness on the part 
of various denominations to seek closer fellowship with 
brethren from whom they have long been estranged ; the 
marked falling off in the number and acrimony of polem- 
ical discussions ; and a more general desire for the oblit- 
eration of all separating walls not actually demanded by 
loyalty to essential truth. Whilst candor obliges us to 
admit that much which passes for zeal in behalf of 
Christian union has no better foundation than gross ig- 
norance of the grave issues involved, or culpable indiff- 
erence to sound doctrine, it is still true that the prevail- 
ing sentiment of the Christian world to-day in regard to 
the sin of schism is in closer accord with the mind of 
Christ than was that of former generations. Neverthe- 
less, the moment one attempts to locate the blame for 
the numberless divisions now marring the body of Christ, 
or even to suggest a remedy, a storm of discussion arises 
at once, revealing only too plainly that the day for the 
complete healing of Zion's sorrows is yet far in the 
future. This fact, however, should not discourage those 
who pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for the real pro- 
9 



I 3 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

gress already noted within the last half century is full of 
promise for the coming years, and it may well stimulate 
the hope that Christ's prayer will surely be realized at 

last. 

The first question to be considered is: What is the 
precise character of that oneness which our Saviour here 
has in mind? To what extent, and in what sense, does 
he desire all his followers to become one? 

i Whatever the oneness was to which he had refer- 
ence, it was something which, at the moment he spoke, 
had not been realized in full perfection among his then 
living disciples. This seems to follow, not merely from 
the fact that he did not assert that it was then in exis- 
tence, but because he asked his Father to create or be- 
stow it. At the time Christ offered this prayer he had 
some hundreds of genuine disciples in Palestine, who 
for months or years had been savingly converted. These 
persons, from the very instant of their renewal by the 
Holy Spirit, and by virtue thereof, were unquestionably 
one in several vital respects. They were all one in their 
regeneration by the same divine Spirit; one in their 
union by faith with the same Redeemer; and one in 
their possession of an indefeasible title to the same in- 
heritance of everlasting life. Surely, all these unspeak- 
able precious features of a true spiritual oneness belonged 
to each and every one of those disciples before Christ 
offered this prayer; and by no possibility could that one- 
ness be diminished, much less lost. There were other 
features of oneness, however, which they certainly did not 
yet possess, and which they would have to have before 
they could all be perfectly one. We know that at that 
moment the Christians then in the world did not even 
enjoy that oneness of external organization which our 
Lord gave them a few weeks later by the hands of his 



our redeemer's prayer, etc. 131 

inspired apostles. Not until after the day of Pentecost 
were the Christians welded into one body called the 
Church of Christ, having one set of officers and one set 
of rules and ordinances to serve as a common bond of 
union. But more than this, the Christians then living 
were very far, indeed, from being entirely one in their 
apprehension of the doctrines of the gospel. Neither 
were they completely one in harmonious, brotherly fel- 
lowship. Not to mention the unseemly self-seeking and 
contention among the apostles themselves in regard to 
the places of honor in Christ's kingdom, which he had 
had to rebuke, we learn from the sacred records in Acts 
and the Epistles that in a little while two factions arose 
within the bosom of the infant church, the one composed 
of Jewish and the other of Gentile converts ; and before 
the first century is half gone we find the apostles con- 
suming much of their time reproving schismatics, and 
trying to reconcile alienated brethren in various portions 
of the church. One need only peruse the several books of 
the New Testament in order to discover the humiliating 
truth that good Christian people can take diametrically 
opposite views of almost every doctrine of the Bible, and 
can divide the church into rival sects and factions until 
sensible men of the world are puzzled to understand how 
all these warring elements can possibly be one in any 
vital sense whatever. In view of these admitted facts, 
whilst we are unable to see why our Redeemer should 
take up the closing hours of his earthly ministry in beg- 
ging his Father to make believers one in those respects 
in which they were already and necessarily such by vir- 
tue of their new birth, we can see abundant reason why 
he should pray that they all might be made one in their 
understanding of all the doctrines and precepts of the 
gospel, one in every essential particular of their church 



1 32 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

life, one in their harmonious, brotherly fellowship, and 
one in their plans and labors for the evangelization of the 
human race. Therefore, it becomes us to view with dis- 
trust all those interpretations of this, great intercessory 
prayer which represent our Lord as asking his Father to 
bestow upon believers something they already possessed, 
and yet making no special requests for other important 
elements of oneness without which they could never 
hope to bring the world to his feet. 

2. A second characteristic of the oneness for which 
Christ prayed is that it is the exclusive possession of 
regenerate persons. None but believers can either share 
this oneness or fully understand it. Our Lord wants 
men to know that true Christian unity is something 
divine and sacred. God may and does use men as his 
instruments in bringing it to pass, but it is a work of 
divine grace. Hence no man can bring himself into the 
charmed circle of Christian unity merely by uniting with 
a Christian church. Now, unless this simple truth is 
clearly seen, we are certain to fall into confusion of 
thought when we come to deal with the matter of Chris- 
tian union. One great trouble arises from the well- 
known fact that the purest Christian churches on earth 
contain a good many spurious members. It is also true 
that in some of the most corrupt churches there is only 
a very small proportion of really regenerate persons. It 
is easy, therefore, to understand that mere oneness of 
outward organization might have no real connection with 
true Christian union. Hence the attempt of some good 
men in our day to bring together, in one grand world- 
wide church, all the scattered and opposing Christian 
bodies, regardless of their wide divergencies as to faith, 
polity and worship, is the very wildest of dreams. Such 
an enterprise, if carried out, would probably do no more 



OUR REDEEMERS PRAYER, ETC. 133 

to further true unity than would the consolidation of a 
Christian denomination with some great political party. 
In order to unite two or more bodies to any good pur- 
pose, a large majority of the members thereof must be, in 
the judgment of charity, real Christians ; they must be 
substantially agreed as to all essentials of the Bible; 
and there must be such a general degree of harmony in 
regard to the details of church life as gives promise of 
good results. The practical significance and use of this 
condition attached to true oneness which confines it with- 
in the circle of believers, is not to prohibit the union of 
now separate churches merely because some spurious 
members are on their rolls, but to admonish us that one- 
ness of outward organization is not the synonym of 
Christian unity. This outward oneness is, at best, only 
one means to the true inward oneness, and it will even 
prove worthless in that respect unless, in our attempt to 
heal division, we are loyal to the whole truth of God, 
and exercise sound common sense. 

3. The third and most wonderful characteristic of that 
oneness which Christ prayed the Father to bestow upon 
all true believers is an absolute completeness which has 
its analogy in the perfect unity existing between the 
Father and the Son. The language our Lord here em- 
ploys to set forth the intimacy and divine perfectness of 
this unity of believers is altogether remarkable in its 
varied iterations. First, he prays for believers in every 
age of the world — "that they all may be one; as thou, 
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 
one in us." Then a little farther on he varies the ex- 
pression somewhat — "that they may be one, even as we 
are one ; 1 in them and thou in me, that they may be 
made perfect in one." Of course all will agree that 
there is a mysterious sense in which creatures could not 



134 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

become precisely like the Godhead, but it would seem 
perfectly clear that these words of our Redeemer con- 
template a oneness of believers in respect to all the 
things of salvation which in its utmost reach must ex- 
clude all divergency of doctrinal belief and Christian 
practice, and everything akin to rivalry or division. Can 
we conceive of the Father and the Son as having oppo- 
site views of the plan of salvation, of church govern- 
ment, or of the methods for the evangelization of the 
world ? Do they find two different sets of truths in the 
Bible ? Is it even thinkable that they should ever come 
into the slightest collision in respect to any feature of 
church life? Surely not. But Christ's request is that 
his disciples shall be one even as he and his Father are 
one. More than this he could not ask. He does not 
ask that his people shall merely bear a general family 
likeness or be one in some essential respects, but that 
they shall become as completely one as the Father and 
Son are one. He does not ask merely that Christians 
of various bodies may learn to exhibit kindly tolerance 
of each others diverse beliefs, for his prayer contemplates 
the abandonment of all wrong beliefs, so that there will 
be no opposing beliefs needing our tolerance. But what 
view did the inspired apostles of Christ take of this mat- 
ter? Did they make apologies for the differences they 
witnessed among Christians so long as they did not 
utterly subvert the fundamental doctrines of grace? 
Did they speak or act as if it were no sin to organize 
separate churches so long as the differences related only 
to the form of government, or the forms of worship, or 
the mode of baptism ? Listen to the way Paul talked to 
the Corinthians who were disposed to array themselves 
in parties under the names of even inspired apostles : 
"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord 



OUR REDEEMERS PRAYER, ETC. 135 

jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that 
there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be per- 
fectly joined together in the same mind and in the same 
judgment." (i Cor. i. 10.) A little farther on (i Cor. 
iii. 1-4), referring to the same differences at Corinth, he 
says: "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as 
unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in 
Christ. . . . for whereas there is among you envying, 
and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as 
men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, 
I am of Apollos ; are ye not carnal ? " It is but just to 
affirm that the differences to which Paul here refers were 
of no graver kind than some of those which now divide 
various evangelical denominations of Christians in our 
own land. That he would have condemned as ' ' carnal ' ' 
the persons who are responsible for these modern divi- 
sions as he did those schismatics at Corinth seems abso- 
lutely certain. And it seems equally certain that this 
blessed prayer of our Redeemer contemplates the com- 
plete obliteration of all these divisions to the end that his 
people may become one even as he and his Father are 
one. He did not specify the date at which he expected 
the complete realization of his heart's desire for Christian 
union ; but we feel sure it will be realized in absolute 
perfection in heaven, and that the realization of it then 
will be the culmination of a long series of prayers and 
labors running through ages of faithful use of means on 
the part of his dear people, whom he hath made co- 
workers together with himself. In this vast enterprise, 
as in the matter of our own sanctification, and in that of 
the conversion of the world to Christ, the work is of 
God, and must advance by gradual steps; but each 
Christian has an important part to perform, and there 
can be no surer evidence of our own renewal than a con- 



I36 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

stant, longing desire to see Christ's people made truly 
one. 

4. A single other feature of the oneness Christ prayed 
for will be mentioned, namely : It is not something con- 
cealed in the hearts of believers, but it is something 
which, like the fragrant ointment, bewrayeth itself; like 
the city set upon a hill, which cannot possibly be hid. 
The unbelieving world will be forced to take knowledge 
of it, and it will have a marvellous efficacy to convince 
men that the religion we profess is from God. Thus it 
will avail to achieve what ages of arguments and preach- 
ments have signally failed to effect — it will be a gigantic 
object lesson which shall be read of him that runneth. 
The plain inference is that the one hundred and fifty 
sectarian divisions of Christianity which we have in our 
own land to-day are fearful obstacles to the conversion of 
the world. Is it not a striking confirmation of the jus- 
tice of this inference to note the fact that all the mission- 
aries of the various churches who go out into the heathen 
world to persuade benighted men to turn from their cor- 
rupt faiths to Christ are generally embarrassed when 
intelligent heathen demand the explanation of all these 
distinct and rival organizations, and ask why it is that 
the servants of the one Redeemer must needs carry such 
diverse flags? And it is no matter for surprise that we 
find, in some instances, ministers, whose brethren at 
home stoutly oppose closer relations with other bodies of 
similar faith and order, driven by the very exigencies of 
the foreign work to trample their theories under their 
feet so as to hide from the keen eyes of perishing pagans 
the differences which, at home, may be even cherished 
as too precious to be allowed to vanish. Out there on 
the frontier the true soldiers of Christ see that in union 
there is strength ; and the lesson which we at home need 



OUR REDEEMER'S PRAYER, ETC. 137 

to learn is that if the millions of unevangelized people in 
this so-called Christian land are ever to be savingly im- 
pressed, the church must present an unbroken front as 
the one army of the living God. In this republic, to- 
day, we have seventeen millions of voters. This, of 
course, leaves entirely out of view all the female part of 
our population, and all males under twenty-one years 
old. The later census shows that on the rolls of all the 
various churches, Catholic and Protestant, there are less 
than four and a quarter millions of these voters. That 
is to say, after generations of effort, and with all our 
church machinery, not much more than one-fourth of 
the people of this land are even church members. Christ 
teaches us that the oneness of Christians can answer the 
scepticism of men as nothing else can, provided it be 
visible and unmistakable. Our reliance, then, is not to 
be mainly on oratory, or learning, or fine churches, or 
even that ' ' generous rivalry ' ' of the several denomina- 
tions of which we hear so much in so-called union meet- 
ings, but of which we find not one word of approval in 
the Bible — our reliance, I say, is not to be mainly on 
these things, but on that glorious heaven-born unity of 
the followers of Christ which is able to silence the voice 
of scepticism and usher in the millennial day. 

Having endeavored to set before you a faithful re- 
presentation of the Christian unity our Lord prayed for, 
I now desire to point out what seem to be the principal 
means we should employ in cooperating with God to 
bring that unity to pass. I assume, as beyond all dis- 
pute, that in this gigantic undertaking, as in that of ex- 
tending Christ's kingdom to the ends of the earth, you 
and I and all other Christians are solemnly bound to use 
the means within our reach. It is not the sword of the 
Lord, much less the sword of Gideon, that is to smite to 



138 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the earth the confederated hosts of bigotry, pride, igno- 
rance and hate, but it is " The sword of the Lord and of 
Gideon " — a sword which our puny hands must wield, 
but all whose efficacy is due to the power of Almighty 
God. 

1. I sincerely believe that the very first important 
means of furthering this glorious oneness is to bring our- 
selves to see clearly that schism in all its forms is a high- 
handed sin against God. When can we be fairly said to 
be guilty of the sin of schism ? We commit this sin 
whenever we teach or sanction ruinous error, or lay 
unjust burdens upon the consciences of our brethren, so 
as to drive them out of our communion. We commit 
this sin whenever we withdraw from the church and 
create a new sect by reason of our having cherished un- 
christian feelings towards brethren, or adopted unscrip- 
tural opinions. We may also commit this sin by throwing 
our influence against an honorable settlement of differ- 
ences which could be healed but for our obstinacy or 
resentment. The sin of schism is distinctly pointed out 
and condemned in the New Testament. This is true 
even where the errors referred to did not involve the 
surrender of fundamental truth, but consisted mostly of 
the display of a spirit of strife and dissension. Paul re- 
fers to this sin in his closing exhortations to the church at 
Rome (Romans xvi. 17, 18). He says : " I beseech you, 
brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences 
contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and 
avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord 
Jesus Christ, but their own belly." In his enumeration 
of "the works of the flesh " (Galatians v. 20) Paul men- 
tions some of the very evils which have been at the 
bottom of almost every division that ever occurred since 
the ascension of our Lord, namely, "hatred, variance, 



our redeemer's pmyer, etc. 139 

emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, . . . they 
which do such things cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God." Sin or culpable ignorance, one or both, have 
been the causes of all the divisions now disfiguring the 
Bride of Christ. The degree of guilt greatly varies, we 
doubt not, but somebody's folly or sin has in every case 
been responsible for the creation of new sects. Yet we 
often hear the prevalent divisions of Christendom spoken 
of in terms of great praise, as if they were in themselves 
quite desirable. We are told that for men of different 
tastes and diverse mental structure, etc., rival denomina- 
tions are beneficial. If it were only contended that so 
long as men remain blinded by sin and prejudice these 
divisions are far better than compelling all men to join 
one outward organization, we could agree to the state- 
ment. The trouble is that much of the talk we hear 
directly encourages schism by depriving sectarian sepa- 
ration of its repulsive ugliness. This argument, how- 
ever, proves too much. If the one hundred and fifty 
existing divisions of Christians in America be desirable, 
and if it is unwise to have any one remain in a church 
because he happens to cherish some views unlike those 
of his brethren, then each of the existing denominations 
could profitably be subdivided, and instead of a paltry 
hundred and fifty sects we could easily have a thousand, 
with their multiplied machinery and consequent waste of 
energy. Here, as often elsewhere, it behooves us to 
turn away from the theories of men to God's word, and 
to inquire how this matter was practically handled by 
the inspired apostles whom Christ chose to organize the 
church a few weeks after his departure from this world. 
We know that the apostles at Pentecost and soon after 
had thousands of new converts to deal with, representa- 
tives of both Judaism and Paganism, and from every 



140 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

nation under heaven. There were men of all races, and 
classes, and civilizations, and religious antecedents. If 
ever there was a motley crowd on earth it was that one. 
If ever there was an occasion when the beauties of sepa- 
rate denominational lines would have been visible, it 
was then and there. But those earnest apostles pro- 
ceeded to organize but one church for the whole world, 
and as the work of organization and moulding went on 
they built up in all parts of the vast Roman empire 
churches with but a single creed, and precisely alike in 
every essential particular. Nor was this all : they jeal- 
ously guarded this one church to preserve it intact ; and 
as soon as the apostles discovered signs of schism, they 
boldly denounced the guilty parties as the enemies of 
Christ, and urged all the brethren to hold fast to the 
faith once delivered to them, and remain in the church 
Christ's apostles had founded. That was the apostolic 
method, and it was as unlike the methods of modern 
schismatics as the day is unlike night. I grant that 
fidelity to essential truth does demand separation, and 
the innocent parties are not schismatics. Our Saviour 
did, indeed, say : " It is impossible but that offences 
will come," and yet he added, in the same breath, "but 
woe unto him through whom they come ! It were bet- 
ter for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck 
and he cast into the sea." Until Christians shall have 
made vast progress in both knowlege and holiness the 
church is going to be marred and crippled by denomina- 
tional rivalries and divisions ; but the only consistent 
view to take of these divisions is that they are, at best, 
necessary evils — necessary only for the guiltless ones 
who could not heal these divisions without compro- 
mising essential truth, and excusable even as to them 
only so far as they maintain their blamelessness by 



OUR REDEEMERS PRAYER, ETC. 141 

standing ever ready to do everything consistent with 
loyalty to truth in order to come into closer relations 
with all brethren from whom they now are separated. 

2. A second means of advancing the cause of true one- 
ness among Christians is to school ourselves habitually 
to think of every believer under the whole heaven as our 
brother and fellow-heir, entirely regardless of his church 
relations. No matter where men live, and no matter of 
what race or religion they may be, if they do really love 
our Saviour they are united to Christ |by indissoluble 
bonds, and we are unspeakably near to each other, and 
are to spend eternity together in loving fellowship in the 
perfected kingdom of God. They and we may be far 
apart as respects our training, habits, feelings and reli- 
gious activities, but we are completely and forever one 
in several most vital particulars, and the time is abso- 
lutely certain to come when we shall look into each 
others faces with joy, and wonder how we could ever 
have had any other than the utmost tenderness of feeling 
towards each other, or been unwilling to bear patiently 
with each others blindness and follies. I love to think 
that even in the most corrupt communions of Christen- 
dom there are those who are looking for eternal life to 
that very Jesus who is the only hope of my own sinful 
self, and who rejoice with me in the hope of that same 
glory which is to be revealed when he comes again. 
The very thought of this blessed tie, binding us to all 
others who believe, will help us to stifle the ungracious 
and spiteful words which sometimes press for utterance, 
and cause us to welcome every occasion when we may, 
without dishonor, get closer to them. The prevalence 
of such feelings in the hearts of Christians generally 
would soon awaken longings for the removal of every 
needless wall of separation, and prove the harbiu- 



142 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

ger of a more glorious day for the church of Christ 
on earth. 

3. Among the most powerful of all the means we can 
employ for the furtherance of true Christian union is 
prayer. The inspired Psalmist exhorts us to pray for 
the peace of Jerusalem, and adds the promise that they 
that love her shall prosper. In one of the Beatitudes our 
Saviour has declared the peace -makers to be peculiarly 
blessed, for they shall be called the children of God. The 
transformations which must precede the realization of 
true oneness are so vast that as we contemplate them we 
are led to exclaim, ' ' Behold, if the Lord would make win- 
dows in heaven, might this thing be?" But the ear of 
our God is not dull of hearing, neither is his arm short- 
ened that it cannot save. When Carey, the great Baptist 
missionary, took leave of England a century ago to at- 
tempt the conversion of India to Christ, even good 
brethren shook their heads as though the task were too 
great even to be considered at all. But lo ! what hath 
God wrought in one century, even with his church all 
disabled and hampered by endless divisions and unbe- 
lief! That almighty power, which has already moved 
mountains in the foreign field, can cause mountains here 
in Christian lands to depart and be removed into the 
midst of the sea ; and when we reflect that above and 
behind us stands the Great Intercessor perpetually offer- 
ing that same prayer for the oneness of his people, and 
pleading the merit of his infinite sacrifice, our hearts 
may well take courage. Let us accustom ourselves to 
pray often and earnestly to God for the enlightenment 
and sanctification of his people in every one of his 
churches ; that every false conception of the truth and 
every mistaken policy may be abandoned ; that all of us 
who are in the wrong may not only have eyes to see it, 



OUR REDEEMERS PRAYER, ETC. I43 

but the grace and courage to confess it ; and that all of 
us may, when constrained to contend earnestly for what 
we sincerely believe to be the faith once delivered to the 
saints, seek to be scrupulously fair, and always speak 
the truth in love. Who can believe that such prayers as 
these would be in vain? No doubt the changes which 
must pave the way for the reunion of Christendom will 
be gradual, and all of us now living must die without 
being permitted to witness the full consummation of our 
hopes, but it could surely add no thorns to our dying 
pillows to reflect that we had loved the church for which 
Jesus died, and had done what we could to make her a 
praise in the earth. 

I might, if time permitted, dwell upon yet other means 
of advancing the cause of true oneness ; as, for example, 
joining heartily in every worthy Christian and philanthro- 
pic enterprise with our brethren of other denominations, 
in which no compromise of principle would be made ; re- 
cognizing, as far as we consistently can, the ordinances 
and church ly character of all evangelical bodies ; and 
abstaining, as far as possible, from all ungracious inter- 
ference with the enterprises of other churches. But I 
must conclude this discourse with two needful cautions, 
to- wit: The first caution is that we should never, for 
one moment, imagine that the interests of Christian- 
ity can be furthered by hiding our colors or obscuring 
any doctrine of the gospel for fear that some whom we 
wish to conciliate may be offended. Be assured that 
when at last unity shall be perfectly realized in heaven it 
can have no other basis than the truth of God as we 
have it in the Bible. And the attempt to keep in the 
background any doctrine of the Holy Scriptures would 
not only be a cowardly artifice, but would, in the end, 
prove an obstacle to real oneness. You might as well 



144 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

seek to harmonize the solar system by blotting some of 
the planets from the universe ; you would only intro- 
duce new complications, ruinous in their results. What- 
ever we do, let us, with the apostle, shun not to declare 
the whole counsel of God with frankness and fairness, 
and out of loving hearts. The other caution, close akin 
to that, is to beware of allowing our desire for Christian 
union to render us lifeless and half-hearted in our efforts 
in behalf of the denomination to which we belong. It 
has been the observation of many pastors that the amia- 
ble people who say they love one church as well as 
another, soon reveal their emptiness by loving no church 
well enough to be willing to render it much service. It 
is possible to be warmly devoted to one's own church 
and at the same time to love the whole of God's scattered 
family. The ancient Spartans had this motto: "Sparta 
is thy portion ; do thy best for Sparta ' ' ; and so long as 
yours is, all in all, the best church you are acquainted 
with, you will do well to make that motto your own. 
In all our labors, however, in behalf of the church of 
Christ let us never lose hope in regard to the final reali- 
zation of Christian unity. The faint streaks of light 
already visible give promise of the coming day. The 
Great Intercessor ever lives to plead ; and as sure as God's 
promise stands fast, every wall of separation must crum- 
ble, and all the followers of Christ be made one. 



I 



THE 

DIVINENESS OF THE FAMILY BOND. 

BY REV. W. U. MURKLAND, D. D., 
Pastor of Franklin-Street Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Md. 



"I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure 
conscience." — 2 Tim. i. 3. 

OF the social order which is to rule in heaven only- 
one glimpse has been disclosed. The structural 
unit of the new Jerusalem, as of human life on 
earth, is not the individual, but the family. For this 
cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on 
earth is named. The church of the First Born in heaven 
is bound together by personal relations, even the rela- 
tions which make home and kindred on earth. And for 
aught we know, the innumerable company of angels 
who have kept their first estate, albeit descending from 
no common head and unbound by ties of flesh and blood, 
may yet rank themselves in households. As across the 
breast of the ecliptic the stars group in zodiacal signs, 
which borrow shape and name from earthly figures, so 
the celestial society, the unquenchable stars that shine 
forever in the spiritual firmament, move in the clearly- 
defined circles of the Home. In the Father's house are 
many mansions in which the family bond remains un- 
changed. From the Father every family in heaven and 
earth is named. We cannot in our English speech re- 
produce the fine play of thought and expression which 
leaps from word to word, binding up in a common root 
10 145 



I 4 6 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the divine Father and the heavenly family. Pater- 
Pah ia. They are forms of the same word. The family 
has a right to the name, because it draws its being from 
the father, and both by descent and name the family 
bond is entitled to be called divine. 

I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers, for 
the sacredness, the divineness of this, the strongest bond 

on earth. 

Let us emphasize the divineness and far-reaching 
power of this bond. For in it rest the pillars of our social 
order On the recognition of its inviolability depends the 
future of the nation and of the world. On it reposes the 
grandfeur of the House of God. The vigor and aggress- 
ive power of the church are conditioned by the moral 
tone of the family. The vitality of the congregation is 
measured by the vitality of its households. "If the 
foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? ' 
I take it that these are the most vital, the most pressing, 
the most imperative questions of the church of God to- 
day. ' ' I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers 
with pure conscience." 

When a man can, he ought to thank God for his fore- 
fathers For each of us is planted at birth within a sphere 
of necessity created by his descent. The infant is born 
to-day, but he is the creature of yesterday. A child is 
born into the world with wings upon his shoulders, or 
with gyves on his wrists. He is a thrall to the conditions 
of the household. He belongs to a family, and the char- 
acter of that family may enfranchise or fetter his whole 
life. He did not choose his parents ; they were chosen 
without his .knowledge or consent ; and yet he is bom, 
linked to circumstances that lift him up as wings or press 
him down to the lowest earth. His whole life is bound 
up indissolubly with his parents and kindred. Race, 



THE DIVINENESS OF THE FAMILY BOND. 147 

and language, and religion, and social position, and 
earthly estate, and health, and mental power are forced 
upon him. He is planted in a circle of necessity that for 
years, if not for his whole life, may cause his heart to 
burn with gratitude and pride or crimson his cheek with 
shame. 

Jesus Christ was born to poverty and to the social 
condition of a mechanic, because he was the reputed son 
of Joseph, the carpenter ; and he was met in the rising 
success of his public ministry with a sneer, designed to 
crush his influence. ' ' Is not this the carpenter's son? ' ' 
' ' Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ? ' ' 
But there comes a time when a man and woman are 
going to weave the same net-work of necessity for 
others. They marry, form a new home, create a new 
household, in which children are born and nurtured and 
impressed for all their lives. What is to be the influence 
of that new circle upon the children ? Will they grow 
up to manhood and womanhood thanking God for their 
forefathers ? Will there be recollections of a beautiful 
childhood, a pure youth, a faith and love transmitted as 
an hereditary possession, a devotion and service of God 
with a pure conscience, to be renewed and to reappear in 
their own lives, the traditions of a godly household 
bound up with the record of unbroken service, to be 
handed down to the generations which are to follow after? 

The bond which creates and perpetuates the Family re- 
lation is the marriage bond. It is an institution divine 
and human, and its sanctity and inviolableness are dis- 
tinctly the fruit of Christianity. The idea popularly 
held and often proclaimed, that marriage is only a civil 
contract, to be kept or terminated at the pleasure of the 
parties, like any other contract, is untrue as well as de- 
structive. Marriage is more than a human contract or 



I48 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

convention. It is a divine institution. It belongs to 
the race from the morning of creation. He created man 
male and female ; he made one wife for one man when 
he could have made a hundred. Says the prophet Mala- 
chi : ' ' Did not he make one ? Yet had he the residue of 
the spirit. And wherefore one ? That he might seek a 
godly seed. " It is the only human institution for which 
Jesus Christ directly legislated. He reaffirmed its divine 
origin and integrity ; he cleared it from the perversions 
and glosses of his day ; and he asserted its indissolu- 
bility by man except for one reason, the one sin which 
kills love and makes the one flesh twain again. And 
then, to glorify wedded life, he made it the symbol of 
unbroken union between himself and the church, for 
which he gave his life. The noblest epithalamium ever 
chanted by human lips was sung by Paul, unfolding this 
divine mystery: "Husbands, love your wives, even as 
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, . . . 
that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not 
leaving spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it 
should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to 
love their wives as their own bodies." And his praise 
of unwedded life was not for its superior saintliness, but 
for its superior ease and comfort in troublous times, and 
its fitness for special service of God, to which some are 
called. 

I do not think we always recognize the debt of happy 
homes and wedded lives to Christianity. The theory of 
the Jews in Christ's day, however invaded by the prac- 
tice of loving hearts and households, was that divorce 
was practicable on almost any ground and for every 
cause. Said the son of Sirach : "If she go not as thou 
wouldest have her, cut her off from thy flesh, and give 
her a bill of divorce, and let her go." 



THE DIVINENESS OF THE FAMILY BOND. 149 

The teachings of Hillel allowed everything which 
made the company of a wife distasteful as sufficient 
ground for repudiation. If a woman had spoiled her 
husband's dinner, " burned his mess " ; if she found no 
favor in his sight ; if he liked another woman better ; if 
a wife was quarrelsome or troublesome; if she was of 
ill-repute ; if she was childless for ten years, she might 
be put away. 

But Jesus Christ drew the line at one sin, a line so 
straight and rigid that even his disciples said, ' ' If the 
case of a man be so with his wife, it is not good to 
marry. ' ' 

In the great Roman world, and in the capital where 
Paul wrote the words of our text, the marriage bond had 
lost its sanctity. The Caesar in whose reign Jesus Christ 
was born divorced one wife after another, and then 
quickly divorced the young Livia from her husband 
Augustus, to whom she had borne one child, and was 
about to bear another, and took her to be his own wife. 
The domestic life of the Caesar in whose reign Paul was 
writing was simply infamous. 

The chief orator of the world divorced his wife, mar- 
ried another for her dowery, and then, when he had paid 
his debts with that fortune, divorced her. Another dis- 
tinguished citizen married a beautiful girl and almost 
immediately divorced her, only deigning to remark, 
11 My shoes are new and well-made, but no one knows 
where they pinch me." On the other hand, illustrious 
and high-born women counted their years not by the 
consuls, but by the number of their husbands. The 
poet satirist tells us of a woman who had eight husbands 
in five years. Cicero speaks of a gentleman who, com- 
ing home from a journey, was told by his wife that their 
relations were dissolved, and that she was going to wed 



I5O SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Deo Brutus. The earlier constancy of wedded life had 
given place to that laxity into which even conservative 
states and cities are drifting. 

The position of the children in these Roman homes 
was that of a slave. The law gave, and had always 
given, the father almost absolute power over wife and 
children. The sons were only free when they had been 
sold three times. They were then "emancipated," and, 
when emancipated, lost all claim upon the estate or care 
of the father. While in the family they were the chat- 
tels of the father. He could sell, scourge, and slay his 
sons. He could drag a gifted son from the tribune, where 
his eloquence was enchaining the people, before the con- 
sul, the tribune, the multitude, to his own house to be 
scourged. 

Into such domestic corruption and darkness came the 
teaching of Christ and of Paul. We are all children of 
God. The marriage bond was created by him. The 
family is called from the divine Father. " Children, 
obey your parents in the Lord." " Husbands, love your 
wives as Christ loved the church." " Fathers, provoke 
not your children to wrath." They were the rays of a 
new sun. the seeds of a new life ; they regenerated the 
family ; they saved Society. 

I do not mean to deny all domestic virtue and happi- 
ness to that old Pagan world. The inscriptions on some 
tombs thrill us with their tenderness and beauty : ' ' She 
was dearer to me than my life. " " She never caused me 
a pang but by her death." " To my dearest wife, with 
whom I lived for eighteen years without a complaint." 
These were gracious flowers springing out of that rank 
soil ; but their root was simply in chance nature, not in 
principle or in duty. They knew not the high note of 
origin and of destiny struck by the Christian prisoner in 



THE DIVINENESS OF THE FAMILY BOND. 151 

the dungeon of the Prefecture. ' ' God created man male 
and female." "What God hath joined together let no 
man put asunder." "The divine Father, from whom 
every family in heaven and earth is named. ' ' 

It is when the divineness of the family bond is recog- 
nized and obeyed, that the mysterious necessity which 
envelops us in the dawn and nurture of our very life is 
lighted up and glorified. Ther2 is a moral inheritance 
which belongs to every child as his birthright, whose 
spiritual issues are immeasurable. There are lines of 
blessing, threads of light and love, strands of golden 
hope, woven through and through the texture of our 
early life, which appear in the consummate fabric of 
noble character. 

"I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers 
with a pure conscience." The purity of motive, the 
devoted service, the radiant hope, the fervent love, the 
unconquerable purpose, which made the life of the Chris- 
tian Paul reflect most fully of all men the example of 
Christ himself, were the inheritance of Saul of Tarsus 
from God-fearing ancestors, all touched by the grace of 
God. He had exalted and continued the traditions of 
his house. And the other home in Proconsular Asia, 
upon which he turns his eye in the very act of thanks- 
giving, was a signal witness of the same fact: "When 
I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in 
thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and 
thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee 
also. ' ' The ancestral faith unfeigned — oh ! how true is 
this faith that comes down through the blood of godly 
parents! — which flowered and fruitened in Timothy, the 
noblest flower of the apostolic age, had descended from 
generation to generation. There is a law of spiritual 
heredity running through the line of family descent. It 



152 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

is recognized in the very heart of the moral law, graven 
in stone by the finger of God himself: "I, the Lord thy 
God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation 
of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands 
of them that love me and keep my commandments." 
It enters into the very description of God given by him- 
self: "The Lord, the Lord God . . . keeping mercy for 
thousands ; . . . visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. ' ' 
It is expressed by name in every great covenant relation 
into which he enters with men : for life and death, with 
Adam ; for succession of the seasons, with Noah ; for 
ecclesiastical privilege, with Abraham ; for kingly posi- 
tion, with David; for a new church, proclaimed at Pen- 
tecost and afterwards. Grace does not run in the blood, 
and a man is spiritually born, not of man, nor of the will 
of man, but of God. Yet the mental and moral qualities 
which lie at the basis of all character ; the lines of thought 
and feeling along which character is built up ; the ten- 
dencies which are moulded by grace and fixed into 
habits ; the sensibilities and moral fibres which underlie 
conscientious service ; the knowledge of God instilled in 
half-conscious infancy, and the familiarity with Scripture 
terms which express the faith and hope of Christian 
men ; the atmosphere of holy feeling and reverent move- 
ment which fills the Christian home, inhaled at every 
breath ; the unconscious moulding of an ever-present 
Christlike life, and the education of mind and heart by 
conscious and unconscious instruments — these are a 
splendid portion of the spiritual inheritance into which 
we are born, and in the midst of which, as in a citadel of 
unworldliness, character is securely built up. 

The nurture and discipline of the Lord in which chil- 



THE DIVINENESS OF THE FAMILY BOND. 1 53 

dren are brought up is the means of grace employed by 
the Spirit of God, who works when and as he wills, who 
uses Christian nurture, as he uses Christian truth, to 
regenerate the soul, and decides by Christian influences 
the destiny of the soul, as by the conditions of the house- 
hold he determines the worldly future of its members. 
The family life, therefore, is the spiritual force which 
we cannot afford to overlook, and I take it that one great 
reason why the church seems now to be shorn so largely 
of its aggressive power, is the low vitality of Christian 
households. 

It is this conception of family life and growth which 
runs through the Old Testament as well as the New. 
What a noble outline of the advancement and expansion 
of the House of God is given in the exquisite prayer of 
the old Psalm : ' ' That our sons may be as plants grown 
up in their youth ; that our daughters may be as corner- 
stones, polished after the similitude of a palace" ! The 
imagery is as rich in suggestion as it is in beauty. ' ' Our 
sons as plants grown up in their youth." The seed 
planted in the garden of the home, by the living water, 
springs up in all native vigor and beauty. The child 
rises into manhood as the tree into the air, free, gracious, 
strong, full of leaves and full of fruits, unfading and 
perennial, because it is the garden of the Lord, and the 
roots go down to living water. As the gentle English 
prelate said : " If a gentleman is to grow up, he must 
grow like a tree : there must be nothing between him 
and heaven." The image of the daughters is radiant 
with beauty, and suggests the noblest mission and work 
of woman. ' ' Our daughters as corner pillars sculptured 
to grace a palace." For the woman, wife and mother, is 
the corner-stone which binds together the family from 
which she springs and the family to which she comes, 



154 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

uniting both by her native beauty and exquisite polish, 
sculptured and polished to grace the palaces of man and 
of God. On her fidelity rests the family, society, the 
church, which is the house of God. 

It is through these olive plants around the table ; 
through these arrows in the hands of a mighty man, this 
heritage and reward of the Lord, that the Lord builds 
the house of the Happy man and of God. The unit of 
increase is the Household. The growth is by multiplica- 
tion. The law of increase is unfailing, and the building 
up is symmetrical, continuous, silent, glorious. "The 
Lord doth build up Jerusalem ; he gathereth the out- 
casts of Israel." He doth restore the prodigals and 
exiles to the Father's house. He brings the wanderers 
home again. But the great expansion is from within. 
As then, as in the days of Pentecost, so now the pro- 
mise is unto us and to our children, and as many as the 
Lord our God shall call. This is the natural law of 
building the House, and it ought to be as certain as the 
processes of nature. The influences in the natural world 
are silent and gradual, but unceasing and unfailing. 
The spiritual forces which the Lord employs in the silent 
growth of his kingdom are unceasing and unfailing, too. 
The nurture of the Christian home ! who can portray its 
pcwer ? The children are born within the house of God ; 
the air they breathe is charged with heavenly influences ; 
the conditions which envelop them are the mould of 
Christian thought and feeling ; the power of holy exam- 
ple presses like the atmosphere on the whole surface of 
their being ; while the unique, transcendant authority of 
the parent, that holds in its hand life and death, name 
and position, culture and religion, is paralleled by a love 
which is the only measure of the love of God. Oh ! it is 
a sight that" touches men and angels, when a strong 



THE DIVINENESS OF THE FAMILY BOND. 1 55 

spirit that has tried to solve, unaided, the problems of 
doubt and eternal hope, wounded, baffled, broken, comes 
back at last, like a tired child, to repose upon the bosom 
of his father's peace and his mother's comfort. 

What, my friends, is the dominant influence of your 
homes ? ' ' To impart a knowledge of the law to a child 
conferred as great a spiritual distinction as if the man 
had received the law on Mount Horeb, ' ' was a saying of 
old among the Jews, and they added, that every other 
engagement of a man should give place to this pre-emi- 
nent duty. Is the church and the kingdom of God first 
in the thoughts and speech of your family circle ? Is 
the teaching, the law of the home, that its services are 
to be attended as an act of solemn worship, its obliga- 
tions to take precedence of all others ? Is there a true 
confession of Jesus Christ before children, guests and 
servants ? The imperious prescription of the godless 
social world has done so much to mutilate and destroy 
the worship of the Sabbath, barely yielding to the Lord 
the time for morning service, and stealing the afternoon 
and evening of the Lord's own day for social diversion, 
until even the more obscure in a community have de- 
cided it to be their duty to follow fashion in its war upon 
worship. It ought to be true of every Christian home, 
" the church in thy house " — that which is the Lord's in 
thy house, or simply, "the Lord's in thy house." 
There is a wealth of meaning in that old English word 
Church. It comes to us transliterated through our 
mother tongue from Paul's own word kuriakon, "that 
which belongs to the Lord ' ' ; and it holds its place in 
all modern languages, hardly changed in sound. When 
we add, " in thy house," the abode of our dearest life, 
the most sacred spot on earth, we have the very core of 
heaven. For what is heaven but the church in our 



156 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Father's House? The walls of our little homes melt 
away into the immeasurable expanse of the city of God. 
The family circle widens into the household of the divine 
Father, from whom ever}' family in heaven and on earth 
is named ! 

There is one sacred bond of the home life which binds 
the members together, and all to the throne of God, re- 
laxed and sometimes cast aside by Christian households. 
It is the worship of the Family ; the grouping of the 
whole band — father, mother, children — around the Fam- 
ily Altar in united prayer ; the pillar of cloud, and guid- 
ing by day ; the pillar of fire, lighting and guarding by 
night those who seek its sanctuary. 

It was not a preacher, it was not a Christian man, who 
wrote The Cottar 's Saturday Night. It was a man who 
drank himself to death in the meridian of life. But he 
was one of the poets of the century, and he wrote what 
he had seen and known, what had helped to make him 
intellectually great. And as he tells the story of the 
godly peasant home, the meal, the uncovered head, the 
big Bible, the reading of the Old and of the New, he 
sings — 

"When kneeling down to Heaven's Eternal King, 

The saint, the father, and the husband prays; 
Hope ' springs eternal on triumphant wing, ' 

That thus they all shall meet in future days; 
There ever bask in uncreated rays, 

No more to sigh or shed a bitter tear, 
Together hymning their Creator's praise, 

In such society, yet still more dear, 

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere. 
From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, 

That makes her loved at home, revered abroad ; 
Princes and lords are but the breath of kings; 

An honest man's the noblest work of God ! " 



THE DIVINENESS OF THE FAMILY BOND. 1 57 

Will our children sing the same note, our friends, our 
households ? What influence shall I exert on those who 
live with me, and on those who come after me? Shall 
unfeigned faith descend from father to son, from mother 
to daughter, to flower in some elect Timothys, whose 
lives shall witness, and whose speech shall confess, the 
glory of divine grace and truth ? Oh ! to send down to 
a thousand generations the unbroken traditions of a 
Christian ancestry, and the unbroken service of a pure 
conscience. For this we may well thank God on earth 
and in heaven too ! 

"I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers," 
cry many of us to-day with grateful and exulting hearts. 

"My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
From loins enthroned, the rulers of the earth ; 
But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
The son of parents passed into the skies." 

' ' The glory of children are their fathers. " "I was my 
father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my 
mother." As I speak to-day, does not, for some of us, 
the old home come to life again, clear-cut and definite, 
every room projected before our eyes, as if we were once 
more children, and the shadow of the sun upon the dial 
had turned backward twenty, forty degrees ? Come back, 
,0 prime of my youth! Come back, O image of my 
father, strong-hearted and gentle, who taught me also, 
and said unto me, ' ' Let thy heart retain my words : 
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. 
Forsake not the law of thy mother. ' ' Come back, sweet- 
faced and patient mother, on whose brow that law gleamed 
as on the mitre of the high-priest, holiness to the Lord. 
Thank God ! the bond of the family is not broken by 
death. It leaps over the grave. It abides for aye in the 



158 SOUTHERN PRESBYTKRIAN PULPIT. 

Celestial City. "In my Father's house are many man- 
sions." From whom every family in heaven .... 
is named ! 

' ' I thank Cod that I do not serve him as my fore- 
fathers did," may, alas! be the boast of some here 
to-day. "I have outgrown the old faith, the old creed. 
I break with the traditions of the past. The old Bible, 
the old church, the old purity, are dead and buried. 
I am emancipated from the old superstitions." 

Why does one despise the religion that is old? He 
does not reject the stores of the past in learning, in 
invention, in civilization. They are incorporated with 
the riches of the present. But some despise Chris- 
tianity because it was the religion of their childhood. 
Because their fathers believed in the whole Bible, they 
are avowed infidels. Because their mothers lived and 
died and sang all the way in the faith of Christ, they 
will abandon it. They cut loose from the past heritage, 
and sever every heavenly cord. 

It is possible to cut off the spiritual entail, to sell one's 
birthright for a mess of pottage; but, oh ! it is a suicide, 
where more than blood is spilt, for, once accomplished, 
this man can find no place of repentance, even though 
he seek it with tears. 

Do you remember the story of the Italian nobleman 
who, in his insane passion for gambling, had sacrificed 
nearly all of his ancestral possessions ? One night, 
maddened by drink, he began to play desperately with a 
cool antagonist, who had before won a large portion of 
his wealth. The noble would win all or lose all. He 
staked his money, cattle, land, credit, and lost all. At 
last, in wild despair, he staked his name, a name which 
had been honored for centuries in his own and other 
lands. He lost that ! Then the degradation and terror 



THE DIVINENESS OF THE FAMILY BOND. 159 

of the man knew no bounds. He had forfeited his an- 
cestral name ! He fell upon his knees ; begged piteously 
for its return— not for his wealth, or his lands, or his 
cattle, only for his name ! But the pitiless winner would 
not yield, and the wretched bankrupt rushed forth into 
the darkness to disappear forever, a man without his 
name. What a fight the soul must make to lose its 
spiritual birthright, of which the Christian name is the 
symbol ! Over how many obstacles must the child of a 
godly house leap to perish ! How much it sacrifices to 
be lost ! How much ! Behold the shadowy forms which 
stand weeping around the grave of a disinherited soul, 
disinherited by its own suicidal hand ! The generations 
of Christian forefathers, Christian parents, Christian 
friends and kindred, Christian faith, Christian hope, 
all surmounted, all sacrificed, for a sunless, Christless 
grave ! 

I cannot close with this sad note. I strike another 
key. It is the music of the divine home ; of a Father's 
house in which is bread enough and to spare ; of a 
Father's heart that sees a great way off, and is full, so 
full, of compassion for every wanderer. 

When, a few years ago, I sailed down the upper 
Danube, the place which stirred me most was the castled 
height of the river where Richard the Lion-hearted had 
been entrapped and imprisoned on his return from the 
Holy Land. No one in England knew the place of his 
captivity. But his faithful minstrel, Blondel, journeyed 
from city to city, from castle to castle, playing and sing- 
ing under stone walls the strains which Richard knew 
and loved ; and, lo ! as he played by this unknown 
castle, the music stole into the prison of the king. The 
king made sign of his presence, and, once found, the 
ransom and deliverance followed fast. 



l60 SOUTHERN PRESBYTKKIAN PULPIT. 

I play an old melody to-day. I touch the strings 
which sing of home and early faith; of a mother's love, 
of a father's God. O friend! does not the song find 
thee? Make signal of thy captivity. Come out of thy 
prison. There is a Friend without the gate. The ran- 
som of a king is in his hands. Exiles from God and 
hope, or captives in sin, within the stone walls of an ill- 
spent, wasted and sorrowful past, I say unto you, there 
is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth ! 



V 



WHY BELIEVERS SHOULD "NOT 
FEAR." 



BY ^EV. A. W. PITZER, D D., 

yterian Church, Washington, D. C. 



' ' Fear not, I am the first and the last : I am he that liveth and 
was dead : and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen : and 
have the keys of hell and of death." — Rev. i. 17, 18. 

THE Apostle John was a prisoner on the island of 
Patmos for the sake of the gospel when he re- 
ceived this wondrous revelation of Jesus Christ to 
the churches. His companions in the apostolate had all 
passed away, and in a little while he, too, must go hence. 
From the rocky crags of Patmos, he could look across 
the beautiful waters of the ^Egean, and see the coast line 
of Asia Minor, and almost to the sites of churches planted 
by apostolic hands. For him, the outlook was dark and 
dreary, and doubtless this last of the apostles had his 
seasons of fear and despondency. 

He was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and in the 
midst of the seven golden candlesticks he saw one walk- 
ing like unto the Son of man. He was clothed in full 
priestly garments, and his countenance was as the sun 
shineth in his strength. The vision was so majestic, so 
overpowering, that John fell at his feet as dead; then 
the glorified Redeemer laid his right hand on his servant, 
and said unto him, " Fear not." And through John he 
has said to every believer, and says to us to-day, " Fear 
not. ' ' 

11 161 



162 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Years before, this august being had appeared in visi- 
ble bodily presence, and with audible voice had spoken 
to Saul of Tarsus, and had chosen him to be a witness 
unto all men of what he saw and heard. Now once 
more he appears to the beloved disciple, who leaned 
upon his breast, and delivers a message, not only to 
him, but, through him, to all believers until the end of 
the age, when he shall return in glory from the skies. 
"Fear not," he says to John; "Fear not," he says to 
us. 

Finite, incomplete, and dying, with eternity before us 
in such a world as this, we cannot pass through life 
without many fears. 

One person has an intense dread of physical pain , he 
shrinks with horror from the mere thought of being laid 
upon a bed of sickness to be racked, week after week, 
with pain. Another is haunted with apprehensions of 
poverty ; he fears that he will lose his place, his office, 
his occupation ; that his income will be cut off; that he 
will be left, in his old age, helpless and penniless. 
Another is constantly looking forward with the most 
dismal forebodings to the hour of death. How shall he 
meet that dreadful enemy? How shall he pass safely 
through the gloom of the grave? or else, he is thinking 
of the dread issues of the invisible realm, and the awful 
realities that lie beyond the vail. 

Let the weak, fearful, desponding child of God take 
courage ; to every dread and anxiety and apprehension 
there comes to him from his Lord and Master, from his 
Friend and Brother, from him who has encountered 
every enemy, who has endured every possible human 
agony, and who has come off conqueror and more than 
conqueror over them all, "Fear not : I am the first and 
the last: I am he that liveth and was dead : and behold, 



WHY BELIEVERS SHOULD "NOT FEAR." 163 

I am alive forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of 
hell and death. 

In every congregation there are some weak and wearied 
ones, some tried and tempted ones, some heavy-laden, 
burdened ones, some doubting, desponding ones. To 
all such the Lord himself sends a word of cheer and 
comfort; and then he gives the reasons, and they are all 
found within himself, why believers should ' ' fear not. ' ' 
Let us state and analyze the four reasons given by our 
Kingly Priest wiry his people should be of good courage: 

I. "/ am He t/iat Liveth" ; or, I am the Living One. 
These words do not simply mean that he who spake to 
John was at that time a living person, for this he must 
have been to be able to speak at all. They mean infi- 
nitely more than this : it is a claim made by this august 
person to the possession of an underived, an indepen- 
dent, and an eternal life. 

Of all the 'mysteries in the universe, nothing is more 
inscrutable and mysterious than life. What it is, who 
knows? or, who can tell? Of its essence we know abso- 
lutely nothing. Life in the flower that to-day is and to- 
morrow dies ; life in the animal, the man, the angel. 
We know something of the manifestations ; nothing 
whatever of the essence. Attempt to grasp, to hold, to 
analyze it, it eludes you and disappears. 

Science tells us that all life comes from life, " omne 
virum, ex vivo." There is no such thing known in the 
domain of science as spontaneous generation. Out of 
the dead there never has come life. All life, therefore, 
that we see and know in this sphere ' must come from 
preexisting life in some higher realm and sphere of ex- 
istence. Our lives are finite and dependent ; there must 
therefore be some fountain of life, uncreated and inde- 
pendent, out of which all streams of life do flow. 



164 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

In this Scripture, as elsewhere in the Word, Jesus Christ 
asserts his preexistence and his eternity, "lam the first 
and the last and the living one. Before Abraham was, I am. 
Abraham rejoiced to see my day : he saw and was glad. 
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with 
God, and the word was God. All things were made by 
him, and without him was not anything made that was 
made." In him was life, and here we reach the infinite 
and eternal fountain of all finite and dependent life. 

The names, titles, attributes, and works that are pro- 
per to God, and that are ascribed to God, are also given 
to Jesus Christ ; if the Scriptures of both Testaments do 
not clearly teach his supreme Godhead, then language is 
incapable of expressing that thought. He is the origin 
and end of all things ; the creator and upholder of all 
beings and all worlds ; the life and the light of men ; the 
resurrection and the life : the Alpha and the Omega ; the 
first and the last; the prince of life, who* is, and who 
was, and who is to come. 

This glorious being, with knowledge that is omni- 
scient, with power that is omnipotent, holding all forces, 
all agencies, all beings, and all worlds in his hand, says 
to every timid, frightened, weary and heavy-laden child 
of God, " Fear not, I am your friend, your brother, and 
all the exhaustless treasures of heaven and the Godhead 
are pledged for your safety ; I will make all things work, 
I will make them work together, in harmony, in co- 
operation, for your good. ' ' Surely if God be for us, we 
should not fear anything that may be against us. 

II. And was Dead, or became Dead. — This is the 
second reason why the believer should not fear. It is 
not merely that his Saviour is divine, and therefore able 
to keep him from falling, and to present him faultless 
before the throne; but this power of almightiness is 



WHY BELIEVERS SHOULD " NOT FEAR." 165 

directed by inextinguisliable love, a love higher than the 
heights, deeper than the depths, that even death could 
not chill nor destroy. It is as if the Son of man said to 
John and to us, I, who am divine, who have all power, 
have loved you unto death, in death, and through death. 
I became dead for you, because I loved you. 

The Godhead of the Son could not die, and so the 
word became flesh and dwelt among us. Godhead 
united to itself a true body and a reasonable soul, and 
in the God man Christ Jesus, this human soul and body 
could be separated one from the other, and this was done, 
and this was death, and thus the living one became 
dead. He said I have power to lay down my life and I 
have power to take it up again. It was because he 
was God that he could offer up himself, lay down his 
life and take it up again; because he was man, he could 
die. 

Did this most remarkable person, this living one 
really become dead? This is a question of fact, and 
must be decided by the testimony of the witnesses. 

The witnesses say, he gave up the ghost, or literally 
he breathed out his soul. Father, into thy hands I 
commend my spirit. As God, he separated his human 
soul from its body, and sent it to his Father God. 

When the soldiers came to hasten the death of the 
three condemned men, who hung upon the cross, they 
found Jesus already dead, at which they marvelled, and 
did not break his bones. When one of the soldiers 
thrust his spear into his side, near the heart, then came 
out not blood only, but water and blood. His body was 
taken down from the cross by his friends, who prepared 
it for burial, which they would never have done, had 
not life been extinct. The whole New Testament 
record affords the most conclusive evidence that the 



166 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Christ of gospel history did indeed become dead. He 
that liveth was dead. 

But why should this death rather than any other death 
afford grounds for courage and comfort? Why should 
the death of a powerful friend be given as the reason 
why the believer should fear not? Ordinarily, we feel 
far more secure in the presence of a living than a dead 
friend. The live man can help, comfort and sympathize 
with us. The dead man can do us no good whatever; 
a living dog is better than a dead lion. 

It would have sounded strangely to the ears of Israel 
if it had been said to them, "Moses is dead; fear not." 
How bewildering to the seven thousand in Israel who 
had not bowed the knee to Baal had Elisha said, ' ' Elijah 
is dead ; fear not. ' ' How incomprehensible to the Cor- 
inthians had Titus said, "Paul is dead; fear not." 
What encouragement to the Hollanders to announce to 
them the death of their beloved William ; or, to the 
French the death of the great Napolean; or to Ameri- 
cans the death of Lincoln ; or to Confederates the death 
of Jackson ? These words, as applied to any other person 
than to Jesus of Nazareth, would be filled with bitter 
mockery. Not so when he uses them as a ground of 
comfort to his disciples. 

I died for you ; I took your place ; I bore your sins in 
my own body on the tree ; I paid the price ; I endured 
the penalty ; I magnified the law ; I obtained redemp- 
tion. The accursed cross, the sacrificial death, the aton- 
ing blood — these give peace, and comfort, and courage, 
and strength to the soul of the believer. To every whis- 
per of Satan's malignity, to every thunder of the law, to 
every alarm of conscience, to every foreboding of the 
future, to every apprehension of the judgment, to every 
fear of hades, the Lord Jesus lays his pierced hand on 



WHY BELIEVERS SHOULD "NOT FEAR." 167 

the believer and says, " Fear not; I am the first and the 
last and the living one, and I became dead for you — died 
that you might live. ' ' 

III. "And Behold, I am Alive Forever-more." — This 
presents a third reason for the believer's confidence. 
This Son of man who speaks to him, not only became 
dead, but he passed through the gates of the grave with 
the tread of a conqueror ; he went down into the regions 
of the dead, and bound the strong man armed, who had 
the power of death and who kept his goods. He spoiled 
the principalities and power of darkness, and came forth 
from the realms of the dead clad in the radiant glories of 
the resurrection life. 

His Godhead wrought in the grave and lifted his mor- 
tal body up into immortality and brought back his sinless 
human soul from his Father's bosom to reinhabit his 
glorified human body, and thus he became the first-fruits 
of all them that slept. " And now, Christ being raised 
from the dead, dieth no more ; death hath no more do- 
minion over him." The person who speaks to John is 
not merely the Living One, the first and the last, not 
merely the Son of Mary, but the glorified Son of man, 
with his now exalted humanity united eternally to his 
Godhead. He can, indeed, sing, "Oh, death, where is 
thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?" for his 
corruptible has put on incorruption, and his mortal has 
put on immortality. After death has reigned with re- 
sistless power over the race for four thousand years, 
his conqueror has at last been found — the great victor 
has at last appeared. Man is, indeed, redeemed, and 
the resurrection is no longer a hope, but a fact and a 
reality. 

Alive again, and alive forevermore. The dead who 
had been brought back to a mortal life in the flesh were 



168 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

not alive forevermore, for they had not experienced the 
transforming power of the resurrection. The daughter 
of Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus, 
died again ; they were not made alive forevermore. But 
here is one who can never die again, because he has con- 
quered death, and, therefore, over him death hath no 
power. 

The hand laid with such regal majesty and yet with 
such infinite tenderness on the believer, is one that bears 
the print of the nails — a hand that was nailed to the 
cross, but it is also a hand that burst the bonds of death, 
and is now clothed with all power in heaven and on 
earth. Surely, we need not fear when guided and de- 
fended by him, who not only died, but who is alive for- 
evermore. 

IV. " And have the Keys of Hell and Death, ' ' or, as in 
the latest revision, ' ' the Keys of Death and Hell. ' ' — This 
is the fourth reason given why the believer should ' ' not 
fear. ' ' 

The key is the symbol of ownership, of possession, of 
legal power and authority. Ordinarily, the person who 
has the key of a house is the owner of the house — has 
rightful possession and authority in it and over it. He 
can open and shut the doors, go in and out as he pleases, 
admit or exclude persons according to his own good 
pleasure. When a contractor builds a house and his 
work is completed according to the agreement, he de- 
livers the keys to the lawful owner. The key is evi- 
dence of ownership. The Lord Jesus Christ, as risen 
and glorified Son of man, has the keys of death and the 
grave. He is the rightful owner of the whole invisible 
world, because he humbled himself and became obedient 
unto death. God hath highly exalted him and given 
him a name above every name, and invested him with 



WHY BELIEVERS SHOULD "NOT FEAR." 1 69 

power and authority over all worlds visible and invisi- 
ble. Why should the believer fear when his Lord and 
Saviour has supreme authority over death and all realms 
of the unseen world ? 

There are two objects of fear to almost every human 
being ; there is the dread of death and the dread of the 
issues that await us after death. Let us look at these in 
the order of nature or in the order of the Canterbury 
version. Death first, then hades, the world of the dead. 
Death is emphatically the king of terrors ; there is some- 
thing fearful and repulsive in death. He always comes 
with a sting, and is seldom, if ever, a welcome visitor. 
Men may deny the fact of sin ; they cannot deny the fact 
of death ; and yet God always connects the two. Men 
die because they are sinners. Sin is the cause of death. 
That which invests death with such appalling horror is 
sin ; the sting of death is sin. 

To leave this world forever, to look no more upon the 
glad sunlight that fills and floods the heavens and the 
earth ; to see no more the sky bending in beauty over 
us ; to hear no more the song of birds, the murmur of the 
sea, the happy voices of childhood; to leave these homes 
of ours forever and forever ; to say farewell to the loved 
ones of earth ; to leave these bodies of ours, these taber- 
nacles of our souls, in the cold and silent grave. This, 
this is death. Can we say less than that it is an enemy, 
and the sum and culmination of all earthly ills? The 
grave is chilly, cold, cheerless, damp, dark, dismal, and 
yet it is the home for these bodies of ours. What mil- 
lions and tens of millions have gone down into its silent 
embrace ! The mighty kings and warriors of old who 
filled the world with terror and alarm ; statesmen who 
led their people in paths of greatness and renown ; poets 
who sang so sweetly that all men rose up to call them 



170 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

blessed. These, with the unknown and unnumbered 
multitudes, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, 
the noble and the base, all, all have passed away into the 
grave and to the pale realm of shades. The vast proces- 
sion, that started in Eden with the death of Abel, has 
moved on without a halt or a break, silently and sadly, 
to the tomb. It is moving to-day, and at each tick of 
thy watch one soul passes into the unseen. 

It is vain to say that we do not fear death. Some say 
they do not, and, perhaps, they may not, but surely 
such a dreadful event in human existence should not be 
lightly esteemed, and should produce in all thoughtful 
minds salutary dread. But the Christian need not fear 
to die ! There is one who is his friend, who has over- 
come death and who holds the keys of the grave and the 
unseen world, and who says to him : " Fear not." 

The gates of death cannot open for you one moment 
before the appointed time, and he, who has the keys and 
opens the doors, will go with you into the darkness and 
conduct you safely into the light and glory on the other 
side. 

It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death 
the judgment. It is not death, only, that men fear, but 
what is beyond — hades, that vast and eternal world 
into which all shall enter, where each one shall dwell 
forever. 

Hades with its unearthly inhabitants, its disembodied 
spirits, its angels and demons, and spirits of the just 
made perfect, its eternal retribution, its worm that never 
dies, its fire that is never quenched, its ceaseless tor- 
ments, its accusing conscience, its hopeless and helpless 
despair. Who will befriend us there ? 

To every alarm of the believing soul there comes the 
re-assuring word, ' ' Fear not, I have the keys of all 



why believer's should "not fear." 171 

the doors of this vast and unseen world. ' ' His feet as 
burnished brass tread down his and our enemies, his 
voice as the sound of many waters compels the obedi- 
ence of the unearthly inhabitants of that infinite realm, 
and from the glory of his countenance, shining as the 
sun in his strength, none can escape. 

Angels, principalities and powers are subject to him, 
and he is King of kings, and Lord of lords, and this 
glorious person is our steadfast and unfailing friend. He 
loves us with an intense, a divine, a personal love, and 
with his almighty hand laid upon each believer, he says, 
"Fear not." My Christian brother, this is the message 
sent you, nay brought to you, by your Lord himself. 
Why should you fear, when all things are yours, whether 
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or 
death, or things present, or things to come ; all are 
yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. You 
may have come this day to your Father's house, weary 
and heavy laden, pressed down with many anxieties, 
and doubts and fears. Listen, I beseech you, to this 
voice from Patmos, " Fear not; I am the first and the 
last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I 
am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell 
and of death." 

Perhaps you can sing with Mrs. M. C. Edwards her 
little hymn, entitled " God Cares for Me : " 

" I sat in the door of eventide, 

My heart was full of fears, 
And I saw the landscape before me lie, 

Through the mist of the burning tears. 
I thought to myself the world is dark, 

No light, nor joy I see, 
Nothing but toil and want is mine, 

And no one cares for me. 



172 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULriT. 

' ' A sparrow was twittering at my feet, 

With its beautiful, auburn head, 
And it looked at me with dark mild eyes, 

As it picked up crumbs of bread: 
And said to me in words as plain 

As the words of a bird could be, 
' I am only a sparrow, a worthless bird, 

But the dear Lord cares for me.' 

' ' A lily was growing beside the hedge 

Beautiful, tall, and white, 
And it shone through the glossy leaves of green 

Like an angel clothed in light ; 
And it said to me, as it waved its head 

On the breezes soft and free, 
' I am only a lily, a useless flower, 

But the Master cares for me. ' 

" Then it seemed to me that the hand of the loving Lord, 

Over my head was laid, 
And he said to me, ' Oh ! faithless child, 

Wherefore art thou dismayed? 
I clothe the lilies, I feed the birds, 

I see the sparrow's fall, 
Nothing escapes my watchful eye, 

My kindness is over all.' " 



THE RULER'S QUESTION. 

BY REV. J. H. BRYSON, D. D., 
Pastor of the Presbytericm Church, Huntsville, Ala. 



"Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have 
eternal life ? " — Matt. xix. 16. 

THE interesting incident, to which the words of the 
text refer, is given by three of the evangelists. 
.This short discourse with the young Jewish ruler 
evidently made a very profound impression upon the 
minds of the disciples. They were made to see the 
spirituality of the divine law, and the severity of its 
demands, in a light which they had never contemplated. 
Their eyes were opened to the fact, that the law required 
something more than a mere external conformity to its 
precepts, that its claims embraced the inward affections 
of the heart, and that no obedience could be perfect which 
did not originate and rest upon the principle of love. 
The divine Master takes this occasion to expound the 
true nature of the law of God, and show the broad sweep 
of its demands ; and he does so in a way that the im- 
portant truth cannot possibly be misapprehended. The 
exposition, which he gives, is a startling disclosure both 
to the young ruler and to the disciples. They see, per- 
haps for the first time, that all acceptable obedience must 
be founded in love, and that love to God is the chief and 
great requirement of the law. The painful discovery is 
made, that human actions may conform to the letter of 
the law, and yet be devoid of the very element which 
gives them merit. 

i73 



174 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

The doctrines taught by Jesus Christ in this interesting 
interview with the young Jewish ruler are of general 
application ; we are all alike concerned in the principles 
brought to light in this discourse. "What must I do 
to inlierit eternal life? " is a question which has claims 
upon us, which we do well to consider. It is of the 
utmost importance to know what is the true solution of 
this problem. How is eternal life to be obtained? By 
what process is the inestimable boon to be secured? 
Where is it to be found ? By what pathway is it to be 
reached? What course of conduct must be adopted, 
that will ultimate in its possession ? Such inquiries 
justly deserve the most serious attention. No blessing 
can be compared to that of eternal life. Before it all 
else sinks into insignificance. It is the one matter of 
chief concern which should put every other question in 
the background. We can place before ourselves no 
more serious inquiry than that contained in the words 
of the text : ' ' Good Master, what good thing shall I do, 
that I may have eternal life? ' ' 

Our discourse upon these words will be divided into 
three parts — 

I. The facts of this interesting incident. 

II. The solution which the Master gives. 

III. The result of this interview. 
Notwithstanding the general prejudice against Jesus 

Christ, we find a number of intelligent Jews came to 
inquire of him concerning the doctrines he taught and 
take counsel of him as a wise teacher in spiritual things. 
We have two cases presented by the different evangelists 
of particular interest ; the one was that of Nicodemus, a 
distinguished rabbi, who came to Jesus by night at the 
beginning of his public ministry ; the other, that of a 
wealthy young ruler, who came to Jesus at the close of 



THE RULER'S QUESTION. 1 75 

his labors in Perea. The two rulers seemed to be alike 
desirous of being instructed by Jesus Christ. Both 
wanted more light, and were honestly and earnestly seek- 
ing after truth. The two cases gave a favorable oppor- 
tunity to the blessed Master to bring to light very important 
doctrines. Nicodemus opened the way to announce the 
profound doctrine of regeneration by the power of the 
Holy Spirit ; that it was a fundamental change wrought 
upon man's moral nature, and that it was an indispensa- 
ble requisite to admission to the kingdom of God. The 
young ruler, in his inquiry as to what he must do to 
inherit eternal life, gave a most suitable opportunity to 
exhibit the spirituality of the divine law, that its claims 
extended to the motive which prompted the act, as well 
as to the act itself. 

The case of this young man, who came running to the 
Master, and earnestly inquired, " What good thing he 
must do to have eternal life,'" is one which deserves our 
most careful study. Human actions, performed under 
the most favorable circumstances, are here brought to 
the severe test of a perfect law ; an infallible judge pre- 
sides, and there can be no possible mistake in the con- 
clusion. 

The incident referred to in the text occurred near the 
close of the public ministry of Jesus Christ as he was 
passing through Perea and approaching Jerusalem for 
the last time. This young man who came to the Master 
to inquire what he must do to inherit eternal life, was of 
high standing among his people ; he was a ruler, a mem- 
ber of the chief council of the nation. He had great 
wealth, and was distinguished for his intellectual and 
social culture. "Better than this, he was both amiable 
and was virtuous ; he had made it, from the first, an 
object of worthy ambition to be just, and to be generous, 



176 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

and use the advantages of his position to win, in a right 
way, the favor of his fellow-men. But notwithstanding 
he was successful in all the aims of his past life, there 
was a restlessness, a dissatisfaction at heart, a deep 
consciousness that he had not yet obtained that for which 
his better nature was longing." He had heard Jesus 
speak of eternal life, something evidently far higher than 
anything he had yet attained, and he wondered how 
it might be secured. To his mind, there appeared but 
one possible way to secure this great blessing, and that 
was to do some work of extraordinary merit ; and so 
he comes to Jesus with the pointed inquiry, ' ' Good 
Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal 
life?" 

Jesus knew the prevailing thought in this young 
man's mind, that eternal life was to be merited by some 
extraordinary work which might be performed ; that he 
regarded it as the reward of some higher virtue which he 
might yet attain. The very form of the question shows 
that the young man was fully possessed of this idea, that 
the title to eternal life could be secured by his own effort. 
He wanted this great blessing, and if he only knew 
what would secure it he was, as he supposed, ready and 
willing to do it. The disciples and the multitude gath- 
ered around, were anxiously waiting to hear what an- 
swer Jesus would give to the question which the young 
ruler had so earnestly asked. Perhaps, to their surprise, 
he said, ' ' If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
ments," and the young man immediately responded, 
Which ? not conscious that any of the commandments of 
which he had any knowledge had been neglected. Jesus 
then said, " Thou s/ialt do no murder. Thou shall not 
commit adultety. Thou slialt not steal. Thou slialt not 
bear false witness. Honor thy fatlier and thy motlier ; and 



THE RULER'S QUESTION. 177 

thou shall love thy neighbor as thy self. ' ' The young man 
listened to the Master as he detailed the various precepts 
which the law enjoins, and promptly, without the slight- 
est misgiving, he answered, "All these have I observed 
from my youth. What lack I yet?" He was perfectly 
honest and sincere in making this reply. He was satis- 
fied that his obedience to these commandments during 
his past life was everything it should be. To his fellow- 
men and to himself there would seem to be no defect in 
his character ; he was honest and upright, just and gen- 
erous to all. To this noble character and virtuous life, 
he exhibited an amiability of temper and disposition, that 
drew forth the admiration of all who knew him. Indeed, 
so attractive did this young ruler appear as he knelt at 
the feet of Jesus, declaring that he had kept all the com- 
mandments from his youth, that it is said, "Jesu3 behold- 
ing him loved him." As a certain writer has appropri- 
ately said, "It was something new and refreshing to the 
Saviour's eye to see such a specimen as this of truthful- 
ness and purity, of all that was morally lovely and of 
good report among the tzders of the Jews. Here was no 
hypocrite, no fanatic; here was one who had not learned 
to wear the garb of sanctimoniousness as a cover for all 
kinds of self-indulgence. Here was one who had thus 
far escaped the contagion of his age and sect, who was 
really striving to keep himself from all that was wrong, 
and endeavoring to be towards his fellow-men all that he 
understood the law of God required." And as Jesus 
looked upon this noble young ruler of wealth and distinc- 
tion, humbly kneeling at his feet asking the way of eternal 
life, ' ' he loved him. ' ' Here is the highest tribute that has 
ever been paid to that moral goodness which is attainable 
by human effort. None can ever hope to surpass it; 
few ever equal it. To be so upright, so just, so amiable, 



I78 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

as to win the love of the Saviour, is an attainment few, 
if any, will venture to claim for themselves. And yet> 
if it were true that any one could be classed with this 
young ruler, it will be seen that eternal life is not se- 
cured, and the deep cravings of the heart are not satis- 
fied. This very fact ought to have led that young man 
to suspect that there was something wrong in himself. 
If his morality was sufficient, why did he come to Jesus 
at all? He was a rigid moralist, but his soul had never 
felt the first pulsations of a new life ; his heart was not 
happy with a sense of the divine love, and he knew not 
the meaning of forgiveness. "Beneath all the pleasing 
show of outward moralities, there was in that young 
ruler's breast a lamentable want of any true regard to 
God, or any recognition of his supreme and paramount 
claims. His heart, his trust and his treasure were in 
earthly, not heavenly things. He needed a severe les- 
son to teach him this fact and to lay bare at once the true 
state of things in his soul. ' ' He had yet to learn what 
true obedience to the law of God was. He had yet to 
discover the pure spirituality of the law, and have its 
claims flashed upon his naked soul, demanding that love 
to God shall be the prime motive of every act of obedi- 
ence. It was a critical moment in this young man's 
history. He was at the feet of the divine Master, who 
knew what he was, and whose searching eye read the 
hidden thoughts of his heart. And when he said, I have 
kept the commandments, and asked the question, " What 
lack I yet?" Jesus said unto him, "If thou wilt be per- 
fect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor ; and 
come and follow me. " "And when lie heard that saying, 
he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. ' ' 
The one thing lacking was not the mere renunciation of 
his property and giving it to the poor ; it was a supreme 



THE RULER'S QUESTION. 179 

devotedness to God, and clearly indicated duty which he 
lacked — a willingness to give up anything, yea, every- 
thing, if God required it, when the holding of it was in- 
consistent with fidelity to him. Jesus Christ struck 
directly at the idol of this young ruler's heart, and he 
required the instant and absolute dethronement. The 
demand was refused. He would neither give his pro- 
perty to the poor, nor would he follow Christ. He could 
not bear the test. He was not what he was supposed to 
be. This thought brings us to the second part of our 
discourse — 

II. Tlie solutioyi the Master gives of the case of this 
young man. 

We have here a most signal exhibition of the fact that 
amiability of character and a rigid moral life furnish no 
assurance that the heart is right with God. This young 
man had the outward appearance of keeping the law ; he 
was honest, he was upright, he respected all the rights 
of his neighbors; but he did not love God supremely; 
he had never given his heart with all its wealth of love 
to God ; he had never brought himself to the point to 
say that the divine will should be his will. Although 
he knew it was his duty to dispose of his property to the 
poor and follow Christ, he was not willing to take the 
step ; he chose to do the very opposite, to keep his pos- 
sessions and go away. Such was the temper and spirit 
of this young man, whose moral character a little while 
ago appeared so attractive. It was his boast that he had 
kept the law from his youth up, and yet his obedience 
was wanting in the particular element which alone can 
render any obedience acceptable, and that is supreme 
love to God. The specific demand of the law is, " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, 
mind and strength." Every precept of the decalogue is 



l8o SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

inlaid in this principle ; and no obedience can be perfect 
that is not prompted by this love. Here is the fatal 
rock on which this young ruler, with all his morality 
and amiability of character, was wrecked. He had large 
possessions which he loved more than God, and he 
would rather keep them than part with them to follow 
Christ. 

It is not to be understood that the Master is here lay- 
ing down a universal condition fo Christian discipleship. 
No such thing is intended ; he puts no premium on pov- 
erty, and he puts no penalty on wealth. It is a particular 
treatment which he adopts for a specific case. If the diffi- 
culty in the way of following Christ had been the love of 
pleasure, or the love of power, or any other object, the test 
which the case needed would have been framed accordingly. 
We are not forbidden to love any object that is properly 
worthy of our love, but we are to allow no object, what- 
ever it may be, to stand in the way of our following 
Christ. God is justly entitled to the highest place in 
our affections, and no idol can ever be allowed to usurp 
that sacred throne. This is the very difficulty that 
stands in the way of many persons becoming Christians. 
I may be addressing some one to-day who is stumbling 
just here. You perhaps have said, " I would like to be 
a follower of Jesus, " " I would like to become a child of 
God," "I would like to join the church," but there is 
this difficulty in the way, and I cannot do it. 

I beg you to consider most seriously what you are 
doing. Your case is precisely that of the young man 
who came to Christ. You are allowing some particular 
object to come between you and your recognized duty to 
God. You have something which you are not willing 
to give up, something which you are not willing to sac- 
rifice, to follow Jesus. So long as this is true you never 



THE RULER'S QUESTION. l8l 

can become a Christian. You may be amiable and 
lovely, you may be honest and upright, you may be gen- 
erous and benevolent — all this will not give you eternal 
life. God must be enthroned in your affections, your 
heart must be given to him before you can be saved. 
Whenever the sinner comes to the point that he is 
willing to give up all for Christ, every difficulty disap- 
pears at once, and he finds himself, he scarcely knows 
how, in possession of a new life and a blessed hope. 

How different would it have been with the young 
Jewish ruler, if he had been willing to give up all to follow 
the Master. He was, perhaps, unable to see how such a 
step could give eternal life, but God required it, and it 
was his duty to obey. To him eternal life was not pos- 
sible in any other way. And so it is now we have the 
unequivocal word of the Master : "If any man zvill be 
my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross and 
follow me. ' ' On no other terms can salvation be found. 
And yet there is a particular something which keeps 
many a sinner from becoming a follower of Christ. 
Each individual has his particular [hinderance, which 
prevents him from doing what he knows he ought to do. 
These difficulties, whatever they may be, will be sure to 
stand between the sinner and his Saviour just so long as 
he chooses to let them be there. But can he consent 
that any difficulty, whatever may be its magnitude, shall 
keep him back from discharging that highest of all du- 
ties, giving his heart to God} Lef no one be deceived 
here. The hinderances that keep the sinner back from 
the Saviour are hinderances only so long as he chooses 
to make them such. All difficulties vanish so soon as the 
sinner makes up his mind to trust all to the Saviour; 
and there is no obstacle to this trust but his own 
will. 



182 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

The third part of our discourse was to consider — 
III. The result of this interview betwee?i the young ruler 
and Jesus Christ. 

When the question was asked so reverently at the 
feet of the Master, " What good thing shall I do, that I 
may have etet nal life, ' ' it was natural to suppose the 
young man would willingly do whatever might be re- 
quired of him to obtain this blessing. Such, however, 
was not the case. When "eternal life" was offered to 
him on terms so different from what he had supposed, he 
declined it. He would willingly have undertaken to do 
some extraordinary work, if thereby he could merit, or 
be entitled to eternal life, but he would have it on no 
other condition. He wanted the blessing, but he must 
have it on his own terms and in his own way. The 
case of this young man is a fair illustration of wh^t is 
daily taking place under the preaching of the gospel. 
Persons are asking what they must do to be saved, but 
they are unwilling to do what that gospel requires ; and 
salvation is not possible in any other way. It is true 
eternal life was once offered to our race as the reward of 
perfect obedience, but that opportunity was lost forever 
when Adam sinned and fell. Obedience to law is not 
now the source of spiritual life to our sin-cursed race. 
The law has no life-giving power. Under the ' ' cove- 
nant of grace, ' ' however, a new order of things is intro- 
duced. Eternal life is now offered as "the gift of God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. " It is no longer a ques- 
tion of doing, it is a question solely of faith, faith in a 
particular person. Believe on Jesus and thou shalt be 
saved. It is an astounding procedure, filling heaven 
and earth with amazement. Still, it is true. Faith, 
humble, child-like faith, is all that is demanded of the 
sinner that he may have eternal life. Whatever may 



THE RULER'S QUESTION. 183 

be the mysteries about faith, it is the sinner's own indi- 
vidual act, for which he is held responsible, and he 
should not delay to put its virtue to the test. He, who 
believes, is saved, saved immediately, saved for ever. 
" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; he 
that believeth not tlie Son, shall not see life, btd the wrath of 
God abideth on him. ' ' 

Morality, amiability of character, and uprightness of 
conduct, are all very good, they are qualities which chal- 
lenge our admiration and love, but they are insufficient 
to deal with the fearful questions of sin and guilt, and 
death. Faith is the mighty power the sinner needs. It 
opens to him the vast treasures of a Saviour's love. It 
wipes out all the disastrous consequences of sin, and fills 
his new-born soul with joy and rejoicing. It readjusts 
his relations to the divine law in a harmony that can 
never be broken, and it transforms his whole nature into 
the divine image, which he shall wear for ever. This is 
the precious message of the gospel : ' ' God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." 



THE CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT 
THEIR PRIVILEGES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. 

BY REV. S. W. DAVIES, D. D., 
Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Fayetteville, Ark. 



"Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant 
which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And 
in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto 
you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless 
you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." — 
Acts iii. 25, 26, 

WHAT is the covenant here referred to ? In what 
sense were the Jews whom the apostle addressed, 
and in what sense are all baptized persons 
now, children of this covenant ? And what are the bene- 
fits and duties resulting from this relation ? 

The covenant here referred to, as the terms used to 
describe it indicate, is the covenant which God made 
with Abraham, sometimes called the the Covenant of 
Circumcision, from its original sealing ordinance. The 
record of its institution is contained in the seventeenth 
chapter of Genesis. This covenant marks an important 
epoch in the history of redemption. From it dates the 
origin of the church as a visible, organized body, distinct 
from the family and the state. It was made with Abra- 
ham as the representative of the faithful of all ages and 
nations (Rom. iv. 11, 12, and Gal. iii. 29); and its 
design and effect was to organize believers and their 
children into a visible society or church ; separating 
them from the unbelieving world, at first by the outward 
184 



THE CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT. 185 

rite of circumcision, and afterwards by baptism. The 
component elements of the church existed before this 
covenent. There was a revelation of the Saviour and of 
the way of salvation through him ; there were believers, 
and there were institutions and ordinances of divine wor- 
ship, for the instruction, the strengthening and comfort 
of believers. But there was no visible church organiza- 
tion, separate and distinct from the family and the state. 
On the other hand, from this time forward, through the 
entire Scriptures, the visible church can be distinctly 
traced as a separate organized society, with a government 
and officers established in it ; as a body externally called 
to the privilege of receiving the oracles of God, of being 
under the charge of Jehovah, as his peculiar people, and 
of being the special beneficiary of the blessings of the 
covenant. 

If starting with the church as an existing institution, 
you undertake to find its origin by tracing its history 
backward to its source, you will search in vain for it 
anywhere short of this covenant with Abraham. All are 
agreed that it has not originated since the age of the 
apostles. And if you examine the Acts of the Apostles 
and the later books of the New Testament you will find 
abundant references to ' ' the church " as an existing 
institution, but there is no account of its organization. 
The gospels, in like manner, are absolutely silent on this 
point, a fact which cannot be accounted for, if, as some 
would have us believe, the church was organized by the 
Lord Jesus, or by his great forerunner, John the Baptist. 
So through all the ages back to Moses we can trace the 
existence of the church. And even Moses found it in 
existence when he began his mission ; for it was to the 
assembled elders of Israel, the representatives of the 
church as an organized body, that he was directed by the 



186 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Lord to present his credentials. But when we take a 
step further back in the history, and come to Abraham, 
we find no longer any references pointing us still back- 
ward ; but here stands this peculiar transaction, consti- 
tuting him "the father of many nations," under "an 
everlasting covenant," with a special "seal," marking 
and separating him and his seed from the world. Here 
then, we are warranted in concluding, we have found 
the object of our search ; since no where else, as we have 
traced the history backward, have we found anything 
like a divine charter or covenant creating this singular 
and evidently divine institution. 

We are justified, therefore, in asserting, that the cove- 
nant with Abraham, to which the apostle refers in the 
text, is the divine charter of the church, as heretofore 
and still existing ; and that there has never been but one 
church, in the broad sense in which we here use the 
term. There has not been an Old Testament church 
and a New Testament church, a Jewish church and a 
Christian church, in the sense of two separate, indepen- 
dent and in some sense antagonistic organizations ; but 
only an Old Testament fotm, and a New Testament 
form of the one only church of the living God. Its out- 
ward ordinances and modes of worship have been changed 
under different dispensations to suit the requirements of 
the changing times and circumstances. But the church 
itself has not been dissolved, nor its divine and everlast- 
ing charter annulled. It was in this church that God 
"set some apostles, some prophets, and some pastors 
and teachers under the new dispensation." It was from 
this church that the unbelieving Jews were cast out after 
they had rejected their Messiah ; and it was into this 
same church that the believing Gentiles were grafted, 
when they believed the gospel and turned from their 
iniquities unto God. (Rom. xi. 17-20.) 



THE CHILDKEN OF THE COVENANT. 1 87 

By this covenant, made with Abraham and his seed, 
as the representatives of believers and their children in 
all ages, not only are they organized into a body distinct 
from the world, called the church ; but certain privileges 
and blessings are guaranteed to them. These are ex- 
pressed in the declarations, "I will be a God to thee and 
to thy seed after thee, ' ' and ' ' in thy seed shall all the 
nations of the earth be blessed." In which God indi- 
cates his purpose to be a God to this peculiar body of 
people in a special sense ; to dwell among them, to mani- 
fest himself to them and to bless them, as he does not 
the world, and through them to make known his grace 
and salvation to the nations. They are his peculiar peo- 
ple, the special objects of his favor and care ; and among 
them he dwells and m anifests the glory of his grace. To 
them are committed the oracles of God. Theirs are the 
covenants and the promises. For their gathering, edifi- 
cation and comfort the ministry of the word is ordained, 
and the ordinances of divine worship instituted and main- 
tained ; and they are God's chosen and commissioned 
agents for disseminating the knowledge of his truth and 
salvation among their fellow-men. 

Now of this covenant with the fathers, organizing the 
visible church, and guaranteeing to it these precious 
privileges, the Apostle Peter, in the text, tells the un- 
converted Jews of his day that they were ' ' the children ' ' 
or heirs. By which he means, that they were parties 
to the covenant and interested in its provisions. In 
other words, they were members of the church and 
participants in its privileges. And inasmuch as the 
covenant with Abraham has never been annulled, and 
the church of to-day is the legitimate successor, the actual 
continuation of the church which was organized under 
that covenant, the baptized children of believing parents 



1 88 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

sustain a similar relation to the church and its privileges. 
They are not made members of the church by their bap- 
tism any more than the children of Israelitish parents 
were made members by their circumcision. But the 
latter were circumcised, and the former are now baptized, 
because of their being members. It is in reference to 
this that believers are called saints, and their children are 
said to be holy. By this it is not meant that they are 
sinless, but that they are consecrated to God. They 
belong to the Lord, they are separated and set apart to 
the service of the Lord. And as the parents are holy, so 
also is their offspring. "The believing husband sancti- 
fieth the unbelieving wife ; and the believing wife sancti- 
fieth the unbelieving husband; else were your children 
unholy; but now are they holy." That is to say, the 
children of believing parents are consecrated to God, 
members of the church, and sharers in its privileges, by 
virtue of their relation to their parents ; and their baptism 
is simply the outward sign and symbol of their member- 
ship. 

But when we affirm that the children of believing 
parents are members of the visible church and partakers 
of its privileges, we do not mean to be understood as 
holding and teaching that they, in all respects, stand on 
exactly the same footing in the church as their believing 
parents. Our little children are citizens of the state, 
subject to its authority, and entitled to its protection. 
And they are such by virtue of their relation to their 
parents ; but they are minors. They do not enjoy the 
privilege of transacting business in their own names, of 
voting or of holding office. Their citizenship is com- 
passed with certain limitations until they reach a certain 
age. So in the church, the children of believers are 
members, but not in full communion. They are not 



THE CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT. 189 

admitted to the Lord's table, nor to the privilege of 
voting and holding office in the church. There is this 
difference, however, between the minor in the state and 
the minor in the church : the minor in the state is ad- 
mitted to the rights and privileges of full citizenship 
when he attains to a certain age ; but in the church the 
minor is invested with the rights and privileges of full 
membership as soon as he gives evidence of personal 
piety, and not until he does give such evidence. Hence 
the children of believing parents, who do not give evi- 
dence of a change of heart and personal faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, are members of the church in a state of 
spiritual minority, even though they may be mature men 
and women. 

But though justly and properly debarred from the spe- 
cial privileges which I have mentioned, unconverted 
children of the covenant, by virtue of their connection 
with the church, enjoy many peculiarly precious and 
exalted privileges. Their church membership, though 
often undervalued and despised, is far from being a mere 
nominal thing. Among the precious privileges secured 
to the children of the covenant by their connection with 
the church, may be mentioned — 

1. The example, training, instructions, and prayers of 
pious parents. How much depends on early training. 
How infinitely important to men's temporal and eternal 
interests that this early training should be of the right 
kind. And what an inestimably precious heritage are 
the prayers of consecrated fathers and mothers. Is it, 
then, a matter of small consequence that you were born 
in a godly home, and of parents who themselves feared 
God; and who recognized their religious obligations to 
you, who pledged themselves by solemn vows to train 
you up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and 



190 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

who not only continually prayed with and for you, but 
taught you to pray for yourselves ? Have you ever re- 
flected, you who have had pious parents, how different 
is your condition, and how great have been your advan- 
tages over those whose parents are pagans, or like many 
that you know around you, unbelieving, irreligious, and 
wicked ; who never pray with or for their children, never 
teach them to pray, or to read God's word, or to go to 
God's house on the Sabbath, but suffer them to grow up 
in ignorance, irreligion, and vice? Whatever advantages 
you enjoy in these respects, you owe them to the fact 
that you are children of the covenant. 

2. Another benefit which you derive from your con- 
nection with the church, through your pious parents, is 
the oversight, the instruction and the pastoral care of 
the officers of the church. This is a privilege by no 
means to be despised. It throws around you safeguards, 
and affords you advantages, for securing your own per- 
sonal salvation not enjoyed by others. It is a very great 
advantage to have been taught to respect the Sabbath 
and the house of God, and from childhood to have known 
the Scriptures. But as experience proves, the instruc- 
tions and example of pious parents need to be followed 
up, and reinforced by the affectionate oversight, the wise 
counsels, and the tender warnings and appeals of the 
faithful officers of God's house, and the sanctifying, re- 
straining and elevating influences of the instructions and 
worship of the sanctuary. These are, under God, most 
powerful and effective means of bringing men to a saving 
knowledge of God, and a personal consecration of them- 
selves to his service. And it is to this circumstance 
that their connection with the church, brings them 
directly and constantly under these influences, that we 
are to attribute the significant fact, that the great majority 



THE CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT. 191 

of all true converts come from among the children of the 
covenant. 

3. But the benefit of greatest value involved in your 
hereditary connection with the church, is the intimate 
and peculiar relation into which it brings you with God 
himself. As children of the covenant you stand in a 
different relation to God from the children of unbelievers. 
He stands pledged to be a God to you in a sense in which 
he is not their God. You are his people in a sense in 
which they are not. You are lambs of his flock. His 
name is upon your brows. You are under his special 
guardianship and care. You are objects of his most 
tender interest and regard. ' ' However wayward you 
may be ; however forgetful of him and of your duty to 
him, the Great Shepherd does not forget you." He 
thinks of you as a wanderer from his fold. He pities 
you in your wanderings, and longs to see you turn from 
your iniquities and come back to him. This is what 
Peter meant when to the Jews, who like you were 
' ' children of the covenant, ' ' and had like you received 
the seal of the covenant in infancy, he said, " Unto you 
first, ' ' as those in whom he felt the deepest interest, and 
for whom he had the most anxious solicitude, ' ' Unto 
you first, God having raised up his Son, sent him to 
bless you, in turning away every one of you from his 
iniquities." For though, thank God, the Saviour and 
the gospel are for all men, and "whosoever will may 
come and take of the water of life freely ' ' ; yet there is a 
sense in which they are specially for his covenant peo- 
ple. For when God sent forth Jesus his Son, he sent 
him first, not to the Greeks, or to the Romans, or to any 
other Gentile nation, but to his own covenant people. 
And so still, when he comes by his word and Spirit to 
bless and to save, it is to you, the children of the cove- 



192 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

nant, first, that he comes, and afterwards to others. 
You are permitted therefore to feel, without presumption, 
that you are nearer to him. " You may go to him with 
more freedom in prayer. You haye special promises 
that you can plead. Like the psalmist you cannot only 
say, "O Lord, truly I am thy servant"; but you can 
also say, "I am the son of thine handmaid." You 
can plead out only the promises that are made to those 
who penitently turn to God ; but you can plead the 
promises that are made to ' ' the children, and to the 
children's children of such as love him and keep his 
commandments." You are therefore under special and 
peculiar obligations to love and obey the Saviour ; and 
the sin of despising and neglecting him is, in you, pecu- 
liarly heinous. 

I need hardly remind you that these distinguished 
privileges are bestowed upon you, not for your sakes 
alone, not to encourage in you spiritual pride, or arro- 
gance, or carnal security ; but that in you, and by means 
of you, all men might be made partakers of his grace 
and salvation. All your privileges, great and precious 
as they are, will not save you, if you do not personally 
accept Christ as your Saviour, and turn from your iniqui- 
ties unto God. Not only so, but they will increase your 
guilt, and fearfully aggravate your condemnation if you 
despise or abuse them. Esau and Ishmael were children 
of the covenant. Both of them received the seal of the 
covenant, and were dedicated to God in infancy. But 
they despised their birthright and neglected to improve 
their privileges, and for their unbelief and sin were cut 
off from the congregation of the Lord ; and they and 
their children excluded from the blessings of the cove- 
nant. And many of the very persons to whom the 
words of our text were originally addressed refused to 



THE CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT. I93 

believe and obey the preaching of the apostles, rejected 
the Saviour, and perished in their sins. Take heed, 
therefore, lest a similar or worse thing befall you. Many 
of you are yet young it is true ; but you are old enough 
to understand and appreciate your privileges and re- 
sponsibilities. You are old enough and you know 
enough to love and trust and obey the Saviour ; and yet 
some of you are not doing it. For all that the gracious 
Saviour has done for you, your love and gratitude and 
obedience are due in return to him. Not to love him, 
not to trust him, not to turn from all sin to him, is a 
great sin, even in those who have only heard of him 
with the hearing of the ear ; but in you it is grievous 
and inexcusable wickedness. Let your earnest and daily 
prayer be, " Gracious Saviour, teach me to know thee 
and to love thee. Reclaim me from all my wanderings. 
Bless me with thy light and thy salvation. Let me abide 
forever under thy gentle control, as one of the sheep of 
thy pasture — one of the people of thy care. ' ' 

Some of you, on the other hand, have long passed the 
period of childhood. The claims of the loving Saviour 
have often been pressed home upon your hearts and con- 
sciences, and as often been neglected or resisted. How 
much longer do you intend thus to trifle with the patience 
and forbearance of God? Will his Spirit always strive? 
Are your birthright privileges in the kingdom of God 
matters of so little value that they may be bartered away 
for some momentary sensual gratification, or trifling 
earthly advantage? Let the melancholly experience of 
poor Esau, his early folly and profane contempt for his 
high spiritual privileges, and his subsequent remorse 
and anguish and hopeless unavailing grief and regret be 
a warning to all who sustain similar relations to the 
church and the blessings and privileges that belong to 
13 



194 SOUTHERN PRESBYTKRIAN PULPIT. 

its true and faithful members ; and let them by sincere 
and timely repentance and turning to God save them- 
selves from a similar or worse fate. 

We are, it will hence be seen, not without a sufficient 
and satisfactory- answer to the question, which many re- 
gard as a fatal objection to the doctrine of infant baptism 
and infant church membership, viz. : What good do they 
do? Of what practical benefit are baptism and member- 
ship in the church to infants, who can neither understand 
their significance nor design ? Our reply is, that their 
benefits, like those of membership in the family, and 
citizenship in the state, are not dependent upon the 
child's understanding of them. The little ones, by the 
ordination of the beneficent creator, are born into the 
family, because they need its love and care, and into the 
state, because they need its protection, and not because 
they understand anything about these things. So they 
are born into the church, and receive baptism, the sign 
and seal of membership, not because they understand 
the meaning and purpose of these things, but because, 
from the very beginning, they need the spiritual guar- 
dianship, instruction and care of the church, which is 
charged with the religious oversight and training of both 
parents and children. The vows which the church exacts 
of parents, when they present their children for baptism, 
binding them by the most sacred obligations to train 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, she 
exacts by virtue of this double oversight and authority ; 
and in proportion as she is loyal to her divine Master, 
and faithful to the charge which he has commited to 
her, she will see to it that these vows are fulfilled. And 
as from the beginning, " God having raised up his Son 
Jesus, sent him first to bless the Jews in turning them 
from their iniquities," so still the church's mission is 
first to her own baptized children and then to the world. 



MAN INSPIRED OF GOD. 

BY REV. G. R. BRACKETT, D. D., 
Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, S. C 



"There is a spirit in man : and the inspiration of the Almighty 
giveth them understanding." — Job xxxii. 8. 

ALL things sustain necessary and vital relations to 
their Creator. In him they " live, and move, and 
have their being. " "In whose hand is the life of 
every living thing. ' ' 

One of the most wonderful discoveries of modern 
science is the correlation and conservation of forces. The 
forces of light, heat, chemical force, and electricity are 
transmuted into each other, but the sum of the original 
force is never diminished. Moreover, it has been dis- 
covered that the sun is the source from which all these 
forces originate, so that it is "one and the same force, 
but under a vast variety of modifications, which warms 
our houses, and our bodily frames, which raises the 
steam and impels the engine, which effects the different 
chemical combinations, which flashes in the lightning, 
and lives in the plant. It furnishes the most striking 
manifestation of God ; the one God, with his infinitely 
varied perfections ; and we should see the one power 
blowing in the breeze, smiling in the sunshine, sparkling 
in the stars, quickening us as we bound along in the 
best enjoyment of health, efflorescing in every form and 
hue of beauty, and showering down daily gifts upon us. ' ' 

Again, we read : " The Spirit of God hath made me. 
195 



196 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. ' ' The 
word "spirit" literally means "breath," and "inspira- 
tion" the act of inbreathing. In a physical sense, all 
life, motion, activity depend upon the constant inspira- 
tion or inbreathing of the Almighty, but in a higher, 
spiritual sense, the spirit of man is inspired by God. 

The Spirit of God is said to exercise a peculiar effi- 
ciency in all the rational and moral actions of men. He 
inspired men to rule and govern his ancient people, and 
with courage and skill in the day of battle. Nor is this 
influence confined to the people of God. Even ungodly 
men have been providentially raised up, and specially 
qualified to execute divine judgments. Cyrus, a heathen 
prince, is called the "Lord's anointed," and Jehovah 
inspired him with wisdom, courage, and military skill. 
Only those who received the ' ' unction of the Spirit 
were said to be anointed, and when the anointed Cyrus 
had accomplished the divine purpose, in the destruction 
of Babylon, Jehovah said to him, "I have girded thee 
and thou hast not known me." 

When the Persian Empire rose like a mountain before 
Zerubbabel, apparently an impassable barrier, to the 
work assigned him of rebuilding the temple, the prophet 
said, « ' Before Zerubbabel, O mountain, thou shalt become 
a plain ; not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, 
saith the Lord of hosts, and the Spirit of the Lord came 
upon Joshua, the high priest, and upon Zerubbabel, the 
civil ruler, and upon all the people," and also worked in 
the minds, and hearts, and counsels of their enemies, 
bringing them to confusion. 

When the Spirit of God came upon Gideon and Jeph- 
thah, they were mighty men of valor. The Spirit of the 
Lord came mightily upon Samson, inspiring him with 
bodily strength, and when the Spirit of God departed 



MAN INSPIRED OF GOD. 197 

from him he became as weak as other men. Bezaleel and 
Aholiab were inspired with artistic and mechanical skill 
for ' ' cunning workmanship ' ' in beautifying the taberna- 
cle. In some sense all men are inspired by the Spirit of 
God. The redemption of Christ has placed the world 
under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, who directs, 
controls, and restrains the ungodly, and whose universal 
presence and agency is the source of all those virtues 
that are the bond of society. 

How the Spirit of God works in and through the 
' ' spirit in man, ' ' without disturbing our free agency, we 
do not know. Neither do we know "how the light 
shines through the transparent crystal, or how matter 
conducts electricity, or how an opaque body becomes 
luminous without the least change in its organization." 

But passing from this general view of the subject, let 
us consider more particularly the kind of inspiration 
indicated in our text, whereby the ' ' spirit in man ' ' re- 
ceives such an ' ' understanding ' ' as qualifies for the 
knowledge, love, and service of God. 

1 . It is as a spirit that man is capable of divine inspira- 
tion, and as a spirit he is related to God, and bears his 
likeness. God is the " Father of our spirits," and "we 
are his offspring." The soul of man is a spiritual sub- 
stance, manifesting all the properties of pure spirit. It 
is immaterial, invisible, indivisible, intelligent, self-con- 
scious, and voluntarily active. He who can say, "I 
am," is the image of the "Great I Am." He who can 
say, "I think, ' ' is the image of the Supreme Intelligence. 
He who can say, "I will," is the image of the Omnipo- 
tent Sovereign. He who, in the consciousness of per- 
sonal identity, can say through all the vicissitudes of 
life, "I have the same unchangeable personality," is 
the image of the immutable God, who is "the same 



198 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

yesterday, to-day, and forever." He who has but to 
will it, and his imagination calls into existence new 
worlds, and peoples them with its own ideal creations, 
and his fashioning hand creates new forms of matter in 
endless combinations, and by his miracles of art "mocks 
his own Creator's skill," is in the image of the all-wise 
Creator. He who feels the pulse of immortality beating 
in his soul, which is incapable of death by dissolution, 
bears the image of the ever-living God. ' ' The eternal 
years of God are hers." He who sits upon the throne 
of the lower creation, and feels, notwithstanding his lost 
" dominion," that he is still lord of all, " subduing time 
and space," controlling the mighty forces of nature, and 
rendering all things animate and inanimate, subjects of 
his royal authority, and compelling them to glorify his 
name, and who rules among the kingdoms of the earth, 
is the image of ' ' the sovereign and only potentate, the 
King of kings and the Lord of lords. ' ' Thus, as another 
has expressed it, man bears the "traces of God's incom- 
municable perfections." All this is implied in the term 
"spirit," which is the image of the Infinite Spirit, con- 
sidered as the natural image of God. 

But man was created for moral and spiritual ends, of 
which this natural image is the mere servant. It is only 
as this spiritual nature, with its faculties of understand- 
ing, affection, and will are crowned with the glory of 
holiness, that man reflects the image of God's moral per- 
fections. In the epistle to the Colossians we learn that 
' ' the new man is renewed in knowledge after the image 
of him that created him ' ' ; and the Ephesians are ex- 
horted "to put on the new man, which after God is 
created in righteousness and true holiness." Holiness 
in the soul is what life is in the body. It is the princi- 
ple which pervades all its faculties and powers, and 



MAN INSPIRED OF GOD. 199 

determines their character and direction. Holiness in 
the understanding imparts to all our information the 
character of true knowledge and wisdom. We know 
with the certainty and clearness of God's knowledge as 
we become like him in holiness. Holiness in the heart, 
purifies the affections and draws them up into the fellow- 
ship with God, and our love responds to his love. Holi- 
ness in the conscience, reveals the law of righteousness, 
the image of God's moral rectitude. Holiness in the 
will, brings it into gradual harmony with the will of 
God, and produces the image of the divine freedom. 

Thus holiness is the bond of union between the soul 
and God, and between the various powers of our nature, 
securing their perfection and harmony. If we were per- 
fectly holy, knowledge would always nourish our love, 
and love would always move the will, and the will, 
guided by the law of the conscience, would always yield 
a spontaneous and joyful obedience. As by an irre- 
sistible attraction, holiness draws all the powers of the 
soul to God, as the centre and inspiration of all their 
movements, which realizes its perfection and blessed- 
ness in the divine favor, fellowship and service. For as 
holiness is the life of the soul, love is the life of holiness, 
and communion and obedience are the life of love. 

All this is implied in the term ' ' spirit. ' ' The ' ' spirit 
in man ' ' is the image of the spirit in God. Man was 
created in his likeness that he might be capable of divine 
inspirations. He was made to receive all the fulness of 
those attributes of spirit which can be communicated to 
a creature. And inasmuch as the spirit in man is capa- 
ble of infinite and eternal expansion, he bears no dim 
traces of those infinite attributes which belong only to 
God. Through the endless ages of eternity, he will be 
forever approaching the infinite, outstripping all present 



200 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

angelic glory, and the "rapt seraph that burns and 
adores ' ' before the very throne of God. 

2. The spirit in man ! Here is the true measure of its 
dignity and grandeur, and the magnitude of its spiritual 
wants : 

Man's arts and inventions; his scientific and philo- 
sophic achievements; his wisdom, penetrating the se- 
crets of the telescopic and microscopic universe; his 
power, controlling and mastering the tremendous forces 
of nature, chaining the lightning, harnessing the steam, 
and making the winds and the waves to obey him, are 
but dim prophecies and shadowy intimations of the 
glorious possibilities of eternity, when our perfected and 
enlarged and ever- expanding faculties shall work without 
let or hindrance, in a sphere that is unlimited, in a light 
that is clear and cloudless, and overflow with the ever- 
lasting influx of infinite wisdom, perfect holiness, and 
boundless love. 

O brethren! what must be the wants of such a 
being, so allied to the infinite, eternal, and ever-blessed 
God, reflecting his divine attributes, and capable of being 
filled with all his communicable fulness ! Created in the 
likeness of God, can the spirit in man find anything 
outside of its Maker to suit its god-like capacities ? All 
our faculties turn to God as their ultimate end, and find 
in him their highest activity, their complete develop- 
ment, and their full satisfaction. Matter and spirit have 
nothing in common. Earthly things are material and 
have no affinity for the soul. They are only instruments 
and occasions of the soul's felicity. 

Our lower nature has affinities for material things. 
God has given us a nature that responds to the beautiful 
in the physical world, and to the pleasures of wealth, 
honor, learning, and social relationships. These lower 



MAN INSPIRED OF GOD. 201 

objects were made to be loved, and only as they are loved 
and enjoyed, according to their nature and design, can 
we fulfil the end of our being, and glorify our Maker. 
But God, himself, must ever be the supreme Portion of 
the soul. The spirit in man must hold communion with 
the infinite Spirit. The sweet and blissful amenities of 
human society can never satisfy a capacity for love God 
made for himself to fill. Again, man has a capacity for 
knowledge, which the knowledge of all created beings 
and of the whole created universe could not satisfy. He 
has, also, capacious activities which find an adequate 
scope for their development and exercise only in the 
service of an infinite being. Virtue is indeed its own 
reward, and there is a pleasure in holy energies. There 
is a delight that flows from a mere sense of duty. The 
self-denials and sacrifices we make in the service of 
others is attended with a high and noble joy. But not 
until we recognize our relations to God, and lealize that 
we are doing his will and accomplishing his purposes, 
do our faculties reach their highest limit of power, and 
the fountain of our joy touch the skies. 

i. In the light of this subject, we see wherein consists 
the essential misery of our fallen state. Said an old 
divine, " The fall of man was the departure of the Holy 
Spirit from him." Disobedience broke the communion 
between the ' ' spirit in man ' ' and the Spirit of God ; and 
though the Holy Spirit continues to exercise his creating, 
sustaining, and controlling agency, he no longer dwells 
in the unrenewed soul, as the source and inspiration of 
its life. "To be severed eternally from God's inspira- 
tion," says Dr. Bushnell, to whom we are indebted for 
some thoughts of this discourse, ' ' is enough, as we are 
constituted, to seal our complete misery. What is called 
hell in the Scripture is the world of misery constituted 



202 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

by the complete absence of God. It is the outer dark- 
ness because it is that night of the mind which overtakes 
it when it strays from God and his light. ' ' 

Dear brethren, does not this account for all the misery 
of this life ; for the mysterious sadness of those who are 
' ' smothering their affinities for God ' ' ; for the ' ' sublime 
unhappiness ' ' of great souls whose spiritual faculties 
are closed against the inspirations of God ; for the rest- 
less undercurrent of dissatisfaction, when the sea is calm, 
the sky clear and cloudless, and favoring breezes fill 
the swelling sails ; for the feverish excitement of men of 
business ; for the intoxicating mirth of the votaries of 
pleasure ; for the mad ambition that never rests so long 
as there is another height to gain ; for the sickening dis- 
gust with earthly vanities ; for the corroding cares, the 
gnawing envies, the burning jealousies? There are so 
many ways the hungry, famishing soul has of saying it 
is not satisfied without God. 

2. Again, we see the true glory of the gospel. The 
curse of sin is lifted from the guilty conscience, and the 
broken law, that the redeemed and regenerated soul may 
be brought into living, conscious relations to God, that 
the Holy Spirit may return to his deserted habitation, 
and abide with us as the source and inspiration of all our 
energies. An unpardoned soul cannot be inspired by 
God ; therefore it must be redeemed. A soul that does 
not love holiness cannot receive divine inspiration ; there- 
fore it must be ' ' born again. ' ' In Christ we are restored 
to our relation to God as justified sinners. In Christ we 
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and with him the 
restoration of the lost image of God ; and as the work of 
sanctification progresses, all our faculties are opened, 
more and more, to the inspirations of God. 

How unreasonable and -atterly vain are all our efforts 



MAN INSPIRED OF GOD. 



203 



at self- restoration ! All our works are dead works, until 
our spiritual life is restored. If we are constitutionally 
related to God, and made to live in his inspiration, then 
we must live as we are made to live, if we will be happy, 
and this inspiration extends to the humblest duties of 
life. He who ''abides in his calling with God," will 
find God abiding with him, inspiring him to do all things 
rightly and wisely. Thus the whole "spirit in man" 
becomes like an instrument of music, filled with the 
breath of God, and whether we press the higher or the 
lower keys the music is all divine. 



"HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO 
OPINIONS?" 

BY REV. J. R. BURGETT, D. D., 

Pastor of the Government-Street Presbyterian Church, Mobile 

Alabama. 



"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long 
halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: 
but if Baal, then folio w him. And the people answered him not 
a word." — i Kings xviii. 21. 

IT has often been remarked that they who have been 
most successful in their efforts, and who have acquired 
greatest eminence in any particular department of life, 
have been men of one idea. By this is meant that the 
purpose, which they were seeking to accomplish, was 
always before their minds, absorbing and enlisting all 
their thoughts and energies. Their attention was not 
directed to a multiplicity of objects, which could not but 
tend to confusion of thoughts and waste of strength. On 
the contrary, they labored with an eye single to the ac- 
complishment of some one thing, which was most dear 
to their hearts. This is what may be called living and 
acting with singleness of aim or purpose. The man of 
wealth ; the man of high attainments in scholarship ; the 
man of honors, whether political or military ; the man of 
eminence in art or science all alike have won their way 
to such celebrity and renown, by adopting this principle 
and giving constant and exclusive attention to the direc- 
tion of their aim, the accomplishment of their purpose. 
A hundred such could be named, who, on the pages of 
204 













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HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? 205 

history, stand out foremost in their chosen . spheres of 
action. Newton, Bacon, Locke, Humboldt, in science 
or metaphysics ; Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Whitfield, in 
theological attainments, and preaching ability and power; 
Webster, Clay, Calhoun, William Pitt, in statesmanship; 
Napoleon Bonaparte, and others, both ancient and modern, 
in military science, illustrate the great advantage of sin- 
gleness of aim in the pursuit of any object. In fact, it is 
what is sometimes called ' ' decision of character ' ' ; and 
our text, with its context, is intended to enforce the les- 
son of its necessity and importance. 

The metaphor ' ' halting ' ' is taken from the unequal 
walk of a lame person, who is sometimes fast, and some- 
times slow; sometimes on one side of the way, and 
sometimes on the other. To a spectator it is uncertain 
whether he will persevere to the end of his journey or 
leave the path with the vain hope of finding one that is 
easier and better. No reliance can be placed in such a 
person as to the object or purpose for which he sets out. 
Now what is thus true in the physical is equally true in 
the moral and religious world. Multitudes fail of the 
success they desire, and come short of the enjoyment 
they would otherwise experience, just because they are 
vague, uncertain and vacillating in their aims and efforts. 

This was the conduct of the Israelites in their relations 
to God and the duties growing out of them. They 
wavered in opinion and varied in practice, sometimes 
worshipping Jehovah, and at other times worshipping 
Baal, just as their convictions or interests prevailed. 
They sought to make a compromise between the two, 
and to mingle their worship so as to accommodate both 
flesh and spirit. Baal's prophets would, in all proba- 
bility, have yielded very readily to such a plan, but they 
could never have gained God's consent, for he rejects in 



206 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

toto all worship or service which does not exalt him as 
supreme in the heart. Elijah, therefore, in a spirit of the 
most scathing rebuke, condemned their unmanly and 
wavering conduct : ' ' Hoiv long halt ye betwee?i two 
opinions?" he demands — thus placing before their 
minds, by a metaphor which they all understood, the 
contemptible manner of their walk before God, and the 
wicked folly of persisting in it. Then he called upon 
them without further delay to determine whether of the 
two was the self-existent and eternal God, the Creator, 
Governor and Judge of the world ; and to follow him alone. 
They were to consider diligently the proofs and argu- 
ments respectively by which the claims of God and Baal 
were sought to be established ; determine on which side 
was the stronger claim, the preponderance of proof; and 
show at once by their action that they submitted to its 
convincing power. If the Lord was God, they were to 
follow him alone ; or, if Baal, then they were to follow 
him. What he demanded was that they must be wholly 
on one side or the other, and must persevere as thus they 
decided so as to be harrassed by no conflicting doubts. 

Let us attend to the lessons which these words sug- 
gest, and try to profit by them : 

1. There are three classes of persons who are not 
included among those thus addressed ; who are not 
to be regarded as ' ' halting between two opinions, ' ' or 
undecided on the subject of religion. One is the openly 
skeptical and profane, who bear the mark of the beast ; 
who make no pretensions to religion, but have made up 
their minds to reject it as a foolish superstition unworthy 
of belief ; and many of whom hate it, oppose it and per- 
secute it. 

Another class is the decidedly sincere, some of whom 
are very zealous, useful and spiritually strong ; and 



HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? 20J 

others of whom are weak and feeble, but fully decided as 
followers of Christ, and so positive in their convictions 
that no one can doubt as to where they belong. Sin- 
cerity is the test; and where such aim at loving and 
serving the Lord in truth, the Lord owns and blesses 
them as his people. 

The third class are those who are in an awakened con- 
dition, and earnestly seeking the Lord; whose faces are 
turned Zionward, and longing to be consciously within 
its gates and among the true and accepted worshippers 
of God; who are actually standing in the way, and 
inquiring for the good old paths, and ready to walk as 
they may be divinely directed. They are like the Philip- 
pian jailer, who, under deep conviction and longing for 
the peace and rest which conscious forgiveness gives, 
cried out : ' ' Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? ' ' 

None of these three classes are among the undecided ; 
those who are halting between two opinions. The skep- 
tical and profane blasphemer of God, of the Bible, of the 
plan of redemption as there revealed in and through Christ 
Jesus, and of all sacred institutions, have made their 
choice, and are so wedded to it in word and act that there 
is no mistaking where they belong, or as to their attitude 
toward the Christian religion. The decidedly sincere of 
all grades are equally positive in their choice of God, 
Christ and the great salvation on the terms offered ; and 
utter no uncertain sound in giving their testimony. 
Those who, under the influence and guidance of the 
Holy Spirit, are seeking to be saved in God's own way, 
are ready as soon as they see and know what that way 
is, to accept and walk in it as the only way. They seek 
the Lord not with a divided but whole heart ; and, ac- 
cording to divine promise, they will therefore surely find 
him. 



20S SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

2. The undecided, or such as "halt between two 
opinions," may be divided into four or five classes. 
There are those, for instance, who are among the people 
of God and class themselves with them, but who are not 
of them. Some are there merely through the influence 
of education ; others from the fears of conscience, which 
will not allow them to neglect the church and its ordi- 
nances. Yet all such are only hearers, and not doers of 
the word. They do not hunger and thirst after spiritual 
things, but are afraid to wholly neglect or cast them 
aside ; and thus they are ' ' halting between two opinions. ' ' 
There are those, also, who avoid open impiety, and yet do 
not sincerely and with their hearts serve God. They 
would be horrified at the very idea of being notoriously 
wicked ; and yet God is not at all in their hearts. They 
are not at all spiritually minded ; and they have never 
really felt their sins to be a heavy burden, from which 
they would gladly be delivered. There are those, also, 
who try hard to unite the world and the church, to wor- 
ship both God and mammon. They call themselves 
industrious, prudent, and sociable ; but the truth is their 
hearts are exclusively and idolatrously set on the world 
in all its variously attractive forms and phases, such as 
are calculated to fascinate and please the natural, unre- 
newed man. They are covetous, and pleasure-seekers. 
They love gold, and are intent upon the accumulation of 
wealth for its own sake and for what it can do in gratify- 
ing their selfish aims and desires. They love amuse- 
ment for its own sake, and hunt for and enjoy it as one 
of their chief occupations in life. But along with all this, 
they wish to be found in the company of the sincerely 
devout and pious, and to be classed with Christians ; 
because, as they think, their temporal respectability and 
standing will give them influence in the church. 



. HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? 2CX) 

Then, again, there are those who labor to unite works 
and grace, in effecting their salvation. They do not 
fully trust in either, but in both partially, and therefore 
come short of fully realizing that salvation which comes 
through Jesus Christ only, and by an exclusive trusting 
in and resting upon his all-sufficient righteousness. 
There is still another class of the undecided, the halters 
between two opinions, whom I ought to mention. They 
are those who would privately but not publicly profess 
Christ. They fear the cross connected with a public 
profession ; the ridicule, reproach, scorn, and trials of 
many kinds which are apt to follow. They fear being 
laughed at by their old associates ; and pointed out and 
spoken of, in a spirit of ridicule, as having become 
pious, etc. They fear the power of temptation, and that 
they will not be able successfully to hold out against it ; 
and so they decline a public profession of religion, 
and hold on to Christ in private, so as really to be at 
liberty to yield to temptation and enjoy forbidden indul- 
gences without being called to account publicly and 
charged with inconsistency. What is this but parleying 
with the tempter, and giving him an advantage in the 
fact of fheir feeling a lessened responsibility, by not 
making a public confession of Christ? And, besides, 
such a disposition makes it evident that they are not 
sincere; else they would know that none of us have 
sufficiency in ourselves to withstand the tempter, and 
that our sufficiency is in Christ, who is always ready to 
help and strengthen those who look to and lean trust- 
ingly on him. There are and can be no silent partners 
in Christ's firm. 

It is stated that a minister in Brooklyn, New York, 
was once called on by a business man, who said: "I 
come, sir, to inquire if Jesus Christ will take me into the 



2IO SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

concern as a silent partner. " " Why do you ask ? " re- 
plied the minister. "Because," said he, "I wish to be 
a member ; and do not wish anybody to know it. ' ' The 
minister's reply was: "Christ takes no silent partners. 
The firm must be Jesus Christ &< Co. ; and the names 
of the company, though they may occupy a subordinate 
place, must all be written out on the sign-board." Now 
all these, and such as these, are "halting between two 
opinions ' ' ; and to them is addressed, by way of rebuke, 
the sharp and cutting inquiry of the text. It is all the 
more pungent and awakening, because, in the face of 
accumulative, convincing evidence of the superior claims 
of the Christian religion as regards its nature and origin, 
its influence and advantages both for time and eternity, 
they are without excuse and all the more guilty, if they 
do not with positive conviction and resolute determina- 
tion accept it as their life religion, and by faith and prac- 
tice hold fast to it under all circumstances and until they 
reach and wear the promised crown. 

3. This leads me to remark that God has wonderfully con- 
descended to establish by the most undoubted proofs those 
truths which concern himself; and which, in their practical 
application, will secure our present and eternal happiness. 
Elijah, although alone and single-handed, nevertheless 
challenged the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal 
to make trial with him as to which was the true God. 
His proposal was so reasonable that the people at once 
agreed to it; and, therefore, Baal's prophets were left to 
the alternative of either complying with it, or of admit- 
ting that their God was a dumb and impotent idol. They 
agreed to the proposal ; and consented that he who 
should answer by fire, in consuming the sacrifice offered 
him, should be regarded as the true God, and worthy of 
supreme and exclusive worship and adoration. In this 



HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? 211 

trial Elijah conceded the preference, in every external 
circumstance, to the false prophets. He gave them 
every outward advantage, in order that his victory might 
be the more noticeable and complete, and that Jehovah, 
the true God, might receive greater honor. He there- 
fore dug a trench about the altar, and filled it with water. 
He also poured a great quantity of water upon the altar, 
upon the sacrifice and upon the wood, with the view, 
doubtless, of avoiding all possible suspicion that any 
fire had been concealed. This would make the divine 
interposition more illustrious and convincing. When 
everything was ready, and the prophet had invoked the 
divine presence so as to make good the claim that he 
was God alone, and to turn back again to himself the 
hearts of his astray ed people, then the fire of the Lord 
fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the 
stones, the dust, and licked up the water that was in the 
trench. Nothing could have been more convincing ; and 
the people, therefore, prostrated themselves before God 
with mingled feelings of terror and reverence. 

Thus did God condescend to prove to his ancient and 
misguided people his claims as the true and self-existent 
Jehovah, who alone is entitled to the exclusive worship 
of all his creatures. To have hesitated after that, and 
still to have withheld from him their exclusive service, 
would have been indeed a most wicked and obstinate 
rebellion. 

Now the same condescension is still shown in furnish- 
ing proofs that ought to be equally convincing, not only 
of his existence, but also of the revelation he has made 
in the sacred Scriptures to man as a spiritual and immortal 
being, and of the divine origin of those doctrines of 
grace and salvation which are suited to his condition as 
a sinner. 



212 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

But I address myself particularly to those who are not 
skeptical, and would scorn to be classed among infidels, 
atheists, and blasphemers of sacred things. I take it 
for granted that you are convinced that there is an 
all-wise, intelligent, self-existent being called God, who 
created, governs and controls all things, both animate 
and inanimate. 

You instinctively feel that there is such a being ; and, 
therefore, you involuntarily cry to him for help when in 
great straits. You know that everywhere and among 
all tribes and nations this feeling or opinion prevails ; 
and that, therefore, they appeal to and worship what 
they call God, whether true or false. This must be 
either from the fact that the idea of God is innate, born 
in us ; or that this truth is so very obvious that it is dis- 
covered by the very first exertion of reason in persons of 
the most ordinary capacities ; or that it has been handed 
down from the first man by tradition through all the 
ages. You know that as the beautiful landscape could 
not be put on canvas by pencil or brush without the 
guiding hand of a skilful artist; that as the machine, 
which is intelligently constructed for the accomplishment 
of a particular purpose, could not have come into exist- 
ence without a designer and artificer ; that as no build- 
ing of any sort, great or small, and exactly suited to its 
aim, could have come together in all its wise arrange- 
ments by chance, but must have been the work of an 
intelligent, independent thinker and designer ; so the 
universe with its wonders, our world with its adapta- 
tions to our use, its order, variety, and beauty, could 
not have merely happened thus, or come into existence 
without the agency of an all-wise Creator, who could 
think, and plan, and execute. You know all this ; and 
are, therefore, convinced that there must be a self- 



HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? II3 

existent and eternal being, with infinite wisdom and 
capabilities, whom we call God. 

You admit the fact that as God's creatures, the work 
of his hands, we belong to him for his service and 
honor; that the ability he has given, the powers with 
which he has endowed us, are to be exercised and used 
as he originally intended ; and that he holds us, as intelli- 
gent beings who are capable of choice, accountable for 
what we do in the matter. He is our Creator, and we 
his creatures, who owe him all the service we are made 
to give, just as man's inventions and productions are 
intended for his service. He is our Ruler, our Sov- 
ereign, and we his subjects, whose duty it is to obey; 
just as in civil government the citizen is expected to be 
in subjection to those in authority. If we fail in ren- 
dering due service to God as our Creator, or proper 
obedience to him as our Sovereign, then we incur his 
displeasure, and are exposed to the penalty. 

You are ready to acknowledge, at least theoretically, 
if not practically, that all mankind, and you yourselves 
included, have come sadly short of such justly-expected 
and rightly-required service and obedience. You have 
come short in thought, word and act ; and you know it 
well, and would feel it most keenly if you would only 
thoughtfully and prayerfully consider the matter in all 
its bearings ; in the light of Scripture, reason, observa- 
tion, and history. In the sight of God you are trans- 
gressors of his law, rebels against his authority, and 
acting contrary to his holy and righteous will, and 
against your own truest and best interests, both for time 
and eternity. The Scriptures plainly declare this ; and 
your own conscience confirms it. You are then guilty 
before God, exposed to the penalty, and already con- 
demned. 



214 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

You know that you have not the ability and cannot, 
through j'our own sufficiency, escape from under this 
sentence of condemnation. Your kindly, honest, and 
upright dealings with your fellow-men will not be a suf- 
ficient covering of your guilt from God's judicial eye. 
Such righteousness may be good currency among men, 
and helpful in social life, but God will not accept it in 
exchange for his pardoning favor and the gift of eternal 
life. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified 
before God ; and, in his sight, all our righteousnesses are 
as filthy rags. The laws of men are not our rule in the 
matter of salvation. Simply to obey them and nothing 
more is too narrow and short to commend us to God. 
Men make laws, just as tailors make garments to fit the 
crooked bodies of those they serve. In making laws, 
men try to suit the humors or whims of the people who 
are to be thus governed ; but surely such laws are not 
sufficient to convince us of sin and to lead us in the way 
of true happiness. It is God's own prerogative to give 
a law to the conscience, and to the renewed motions of 
the heart. Human laws are good to establish proper 
converse with man, but they are too short and insufficient 
to establish proper converse with God; and, therefore, 
we must consult that rule which is the law of the Lord, 
that we may not come short of true blessedness. But 
God's law enjoins more than man in his morally weak 
and depraved state can accomplish ; and when he seri- 
ously attempts to conform his life in thought, speech, 
and act to all its precepts, so as to be perfect in every 
respect, and satisfy God as well as his own conscience, 
he cannot but feel that he has made an utter failure, and 
come far short of what is required. He then turns long- 
ingly to God for light and for the help he needs, in his 
ignorance and helplessness. "Oh, that I knew where I 



HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? 2 1. 5 

might find him " is his earnest, impassioned cry. And 
this suggests another very important fact, which you 
know, and that is, that God, who is love itself, and 
whose loving nature reaches out mercifully, wisely, and 
justly to all his creatures, especially to those created in his 
own image, responded to that earnest cry for help which 
only he can give. He has responded by giving them 
his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who is able to save 
to the uttermost all who come unto God by him ; who 
has done all that was needed to be done to remove every 
hindrance and open up for them completely the way of 
salvation ; and who, as their surety and substitute, met 
every legal demand and paid all their debts . In his twofold 
person as God-man he was abundantly qualified for such 
a work, and triumphantly finished it to the glory of God 
and the redemption and salvation of all true believers. 
He is, therefore, what man, in the consciousness of his 
guilt and helplessness, longs for — the mighty Saviour. 

You know and acknowledge all this, because in the 
Bible you have God's own inspired word, a special 
revelation from him, which comes to you in language 
and form so thoroughly human as to be suited to every 
capacity. It gives in a way that all who are accountable 
can readily understand all that they need to know for 
their salvation. It is all there, not mathematics, nor 
scientific lore, but what is able, through God's blessing, 
to make us wise unto salvation. The Bible was not 
intended to be a teacher of secular knowledge, or an ex- 
positor of the laws which govern the material universe. 
These things it refers to only incidentally and by way of 
illustration ; and then it is usually according to com- 
monly received and prevailing opinions on these subjects, 
so as to adapt its religious teachings the better to the 
people. Thus while it is thoroughly inspired and divine, 



2l6 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

it is, at the same time, an intensely human book. Nov/ 
since man needed just such a revelation, is it not at least 
probable that God would give it, and give it, too, in this 
very shape? It was love and mercy that prompted him 
to give us a special revelation, and to adapt it thus wisely 
to our condition, so as to be within' our ready compre- 
hension. Moreover, that the Bible is really God's word, 
his revelation to men of how they are to be saved from 
guilt and sin, is made evident from its own claim, its 
own testimony. I need not particularize here, because 
if you are a reader of it you cannot but see that such is 
its claim. But aside from its own testimony, the evi- 
dence both internal and external is cumulative. Its ful- 
filled prophecies and its recorded miracles are credentials 
to show that it is God who speaks. The frank and 
candid way in which its inspired writers speak of their 
own faults, and those of God's people, shows that it is a 
book which aims at the truth. The fact that it is 
composed of so many books, written by so many persons 
varying in culture, style, and surroundings, and stretch- 
ing through many centuries ; and that yet with it all 
there is such a remarkable oneness of spirit and aim, 
shows that they must have been under the guidance and 
control of a divine agency, such as the book itself claims. 
The loftiness of its teachings, the grandeur of the char- 
acters it has helped to fashion, and the comforts and 
even joy it imparts to the sorrowing and suffering, show 
that it is more than a mere human production, and must 
be from him who is the source of all true consolation. 
The testimony of experience, from those who have re- 
ceived its teachings and acted upon them, who have 
tasted of this good word of God, and seen that it is all it 
claims ; and who, like the blind man with sight restored 
by Jesus, can say, "Whereas I was blind, now I 



HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? 217 

see," is a proof of its lofty claim, and shows that it can 
be relied on to do what it promises. Now these, and 
more which might be given, are powerful proofs that 
the Bible is God's word; his revelation to man, as a 
spiritual and immortal being, of what can be learned 
nowhere else; how he may be saved and eternally 
blessed; how God can be just, and the justifier of the 
ungodly. 

All this you know and acknowledge ; for it is not the 
skeptical I am addressing. You believe in God ; in the 
immortality of our souls ; in our personal accountability 
as God's creatures and subjects ; in the fact that we 
have sinned and incurred his displeasure, and are, there- 
fore, under condemnation ; in our own insufficiency and 
helplessness to effect a deliverance ; in the Bible as 
God's special revelation of what we need, and how we 
can be delivered and saved ; in the fact that Jesus Christ 
is there made known and offered to us freely as the 
divinely-appointed and infinitely-sufficient Saviour; the 
way, the truth, and the life; the only way through 
which we can come into the reconciled presence of God 
the Father, and finally reach heaven ; you have an intel- 
lectual belief in all this, for you accept and are convinced 
by the evidence that it is all true. 

But now, what are you going to do about it? What 
do you propose to do about it to-day? What do you 
really think is your present duty to God in Christ, and 
to yourselves in view of all that has been done in divine 
love for your spiritual welfare ? Will you still, and for an 
indefinite period, be contented with this mere intellectual 
believing ; with merely believing these facts, and go no 
further? Will you halt right there, and while leaning 
with the intellect toward God, and Jesus Christ his lov- 
ing, unspeakable gift, and the great salvation thus pro- 



2l8 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

vided, be at the same time leaning toward the world 
with the heart, and actually preferring it to what you 
cannot but know is your greatest good ? Will it be for 
your honor and safety to be thus two-faced, double- 
minded, reaching out in opposite directions ; wavering 
between God and the world ? Do you not know that to 
waver thus between duty and the world contrary to your 
own convictions of God, and to refuse all persuasion to 
resolve and be decided one way or the other, is exposing 
you to the risk of an eternal loss, and may allure you to 
a point beyond which there will be no help for you? 
Unresolvedness and half-purposes are an absolute hin- 
drance to a sound conversion. If you would be con- 
verted and saved, as no doubt it is your intention some 
day, do not stand wavering, but resolve at once, and 
turn to God through Christ with a believing, trusting 
heart as well as intellect ; and let it be seen and known 
that you are acting up to your real convictions of duty 
to yourself and your God. 

If this were a doubtful business, I would not persuade 
you to do it rashly ; or if there were any danger to your 
souls in thus resolving, I would say no more. But when 
it is a business that should be beyond all dispute with 
men and women of reason, why should you still waver 
and stagger, as if it were a doubtful business ? What a 
shame it must be to be unresolved as to whether God or 
the world is to have our hearts, and command chiefly our 
affections and services. If it be a disgrace and an ex- 
hibition of folly for a man to be unresolved as to whether 
a bed of thorns or of feathers were the easier, or as to 
whether the great sun or a mere clod of earth was the 
more luminous and glorious, it must be a far greater 
shame and folly for a man to be unresolved as to whether 
it be God or the world that must make him happy, and 



HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? 219 

that should have the chief place in his heart ; and whether 
a life of sin or a life of holiness is the better life. Those 
who halt and waver between two opinions, in the matter 
of religion, are "like travellers who halt in indecision at 
cross-roads, with a furious storm and a dark night rapidly 
approaching ; or like a pilot who doubts what to do with 
the helm when the ship is driving before the wind 
through a dangerous channel." To hesitate or waver 
at such a time about what to do involves a most fearful 
risk ; but not nearly so fearful as that which accompanies 
halting, wavering delay in the matter of religion ; in 
deciding the question of salvation by a prompt and im- 
mediate compliance with the provision made for it and 
with the terms on which it is offered. Nothing should 
be allowed to stand in the way and hinder such a deci- 
sion. The dissuasions of the best and dearest friends 
should be rejected firmly and persistently for the sake of 
the soul ; its present and eternal welfare. A young man 
thus made up his mind and devoted himself to a reli- 
gious life. His ungodly parents sent him many letters 
to dissuade him from it. But being fully decided to go 
on in his chosen course, when any such letters came to 
him he paid no attention to their contents, and threw 
them into the fire; and so when friends, kindred, or 
associates stand between us and Christ, and try to turn 
us away from him, and to keep us from becoming his 
believing and devoted followers, they must be disre- 
garded ; for it is a question of eternal life or eternal 
death, and should be decided at once ; because the 
future is still uncertain, and we know not when the 
curtain will fall. 

' ' Choose ye this day whom ye will serve ; ' ' and may 
God help you to make a right choice and to make it 
now. 



CONSECRATION. 



BY REV. G. B. STRICKLER, D. D., 
Pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Ga. 



" I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
unto God, which is your reasonable service." — Romans xii. t. 

IN many minds there is considerable prejudice against 
doctrinal preaching. It is said that many of the doc- 
trines are very obscure ; that some of them, indeed, 
are incomprehensible ; that there is too much difference 
of opinion about them for them to be profitable subjects 
of discussion ; that the only result of such discussion is 
to confuse and bewilder the understanding, and to lead 
the attention away from the practical duties of life into 
a region of barren speculation. Besides, it is sometimes 
added, it does not make much difference what any one 
believes in regard to the doctrines of religion, provided 
only he keeps close to the duties laid down in God's 
word ; and that, therefore, the kind of preaching that is 
to be preferred is that which clearly points out those 
duties and earnestly insists on their discharge. 

Those, however, who hold these views have entirely 
failed to apprehend the connection that subsists between 
doctrines and duties. What are the doctrines of reli- 
gion ? They relate to such subjects as the nature and 
attributes of God ; the relations in which he stands to 
men ; the relations in which they stand to him ; and 
man's past history, present condition, and eternal des- 
tiny. These are some of the subjects to which the doc- 
220 



CONSECRATION. 221 

trines relate. And now every true doctrine is only the 
assertion of a fact in regard to one or more of these sub- 
jects. It is a doctrine of religion that there is a " God, 
infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, 
power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth" ; but that 
is also a fact. It is a doctrine of religion that man has 
fallen from the high estate in which he was created by 
sinning against God, and has become spiritually totally 
depraved; but that is also a fact. It is a doctrine of 
religion that "there is none other name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved" except 
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ; but that is also a 
fact ; and the same is true of all the doctrines. They are 
all facts ; so that the doctrines of religion are nothing 
more, nothing less, than the facts of religion. Thus 
they lie at its foundation: They make it possible, since 
they furnish the basis on which it rests. What sort of a 
religion would that be that was not grounded in, and 
built upon, well ascertained facts? But, since the doc- 
trines of religion are its facts, how is it possible intelli- 
gently to preach it except by making its doctrines known 
and their meaning understood? 

But what is the relation that subsists between doctrines 
and duties ? Plainly this : the doctrines make the duties. 
Why is it my duty to love God? To find an answer to 
that question, must I not go back to certain doctrines of 
religion ; and do I not say it is my duty to love him 
because he is infinitely excellent and glorious in himself; 
because he is my Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer; 
because he has bestowed great blessings on me in the 
past, and offers to bestow on me still greater blessings in 
the future ? And do not these doctrines thus make the 
duty of loving him ; and if these doctrines were not facts, 
would there rest on my heart the slightest obligation to 



222 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

fix its supreme affections on him ? Why is it my duty to 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ? To answer that ques- 
tion, must I not again go back to certain doctrines of reli- 
gion ; and do I not say that it is my duty to believe on 
him because I am a lost and helpless sinner ; because he 
is the only Saviour ; because he commands me to believe 
on him ; because he is worthy of all my confidence ; 
because only by believing on him can I be brought into 
that spiritual condition in which I shall be able to render 
to him the worship and service of which he is infinitely 
worth}-? And do not these doctrines thus make the duty 
of believing on him ; and if these doctrines were not also 
facts, would there be any reason whatever why I should 
give him the supreme confidence of my soul ? 

Thus the doctrines of religion make its duties. There 
is not a single duty imposed upon us in God's word that 
is not created by one or more of the doctrines there incul- 
cated. This being true, we can now see why doctrines 
are to be preached. They are to be preached that duties 
may be known. Since doctrines create duties, it is 
impossible in the nature of things that anyone can know 
anything more about his duties — their nature; their 
number ; their importance ; their obligatory force — than 
he knows about the doctrines out of which they spring. 
Doctrines and duties, therefore, ought always to be 
preached in closest connection ; the doctrines as giving 
rise to the duties ; the duties as flowing out of the doc- 
trines. 

I make these remarks in introducing this discourse 
because I have observed that it is in this way that the 
apostle presents doctrines and duties in this epistle, and 
in all his other epistles. In the previous part of this 
epistle he establishes a number of doctrines; and 
amongst them the doctrine that God is infinitely merci- 



CONSECRATION. 223 

fill and has bestowed infinite mercies on the human race 
through the Lord Jesus Christ ; and now at the begin- 
ning of this twelfth chapter he beseeches those to whom 
he was writing by those mercies to perform the great 
duty to which they give rise : ' ' present your bodies a 
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your 
reasonable service." 

In considering the text, I shall follow the apostle's 
method. I shall point out the duty to which he sum- 
mons us, and, then, the doctrines out of which it 
springs : 

I. A careful analysis of his words will show that he 
here teaches that it is our duty to make a voluntary and 
entire consecration of ourselves and all we have to the 
Lord as an act of religious worship. He expressly says 
that we are to present our bodies to him. "Present 
your bodies a living sacrifice." That means, of course, 
that every power of the body is to be his. The eyes are 
to be his to survey his glory in his word and in his 
works. The ears are to be his to listen to his com- 
mands. The mouth is to be his to proclaim his name, 
and celebrate his praise. The hands are to be his to 
labor for the promotion of the interests of his kingdom. 
The feet are to be his to run in the way of his command- 
ments. The whole body is to be his to serve him in 
every way that he shall require. Clearly so much as 
that is meant when he says, "present your bodies a liv- 
ing sacrifice." 

But is that all that is meant? Can it be possible, that 
after eleven chapters of solid argument, the design of 
which in great part is to make known the extent of our 
obligations to God, he could draw no broader, nor 
grander conclusion, than that our bodies only are to be 
presented to him? Surely not. That under the word 



224 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

' ' bodies ' ' he necessarily includes our souls is evi- 
dent from the fact that our bodies can be consecrated 
only by our souls ; and they can make the consecration 
only when they see it to be due to God, and are honestly 
willing to make it because it is due. But when they see 
that, it is impossible that they should not also consecrate 
themselves to him, for they will then see that that is due 
to him even more, if possible, than the consecration 
of the body is. It is further evident, that under the word 
bodies he necessarily includes our souls, from the fact 
that our bodies are controlled by our souls, and, there- 
fore, can be of no service to God unless our souls are con- 
secrated with them. Of what service would a ship be to 
us unless we had control of that which guides the ship? 
And so, of what service can our bodies be to God unless 
he has control of that which guides our bodies ? The 
soul, then, as well as the body, is to be consecrated to 
him. All its faculties are to be devoted to his service. 
The understanding is to be his to know him. The will 
is to be his to choose him. The heart is to be his to 
love him. The conscience is to be his to represent his 
authority in the soul, and to enforce obedience to all his 
commandments. The whole soul is to be his to glorify 
him in every way he shall make possible. 

But can we stop here? Does the apostle mean that 
we are to stop here, and conclude that only our bodies 
and souls are to be consecrated to God? Every writer 
must be understood to mean, not only what he directly 
asserts, but everything else that his language neces- 
sarily implies ; and this rule of interpretation is specially 
valid in application to the Scriptures, because they were 
written under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. But 
he distinctly foresaw every necessary inference from every 
statement there made ; and, therefore, every such neces- 



CONSECRATION. 1 25 

sary inference is just as true as every explicit statement 
is. Does not the apostle, then, necessarily imply that 
more is to be consecrated than simply our bodies and 
souls? Does he not imply that all that is ours — our 
time, our possessions, our influence — is also to be con- 
secrated to him, and as entirety as our bodies and souls? 
Nothing can be more evident. When we consecrate our 
bodies and souls to him, that is, when we consecrate 
ourselves to him, the very idea of the consecration is 
that we are thereafter to live for him. But how can we 
live for him except as our time is spent for him, and our 
possessions are employed in promoting the interests of 
his cause and our influence is exerted in behalf of his 
kingdom ? The very idea of consecration, then, carries 
in it, not only our bodies and souls, but everything else 
that is in any sense ours. 

So far as we have examined the text, then, it teaches 
that we and all that is ours are to be presented a living 
sacrifice unto the Lord. But we have not yet exhausted 
its meaning. It needs to be emphasized that all that is 
ours is to be actually devoted to the Lord. It will not 
do to present it in theory whilst we keep it in reality. It 
will not do to present it in profession whilst we keep it in 
fact. It will not do so to present it that a kind of joint 
proprietorship in it is established between ourselves and 
him by which we permit him to share with us in its Use. 
It will not do so to present it to him that we shall gra- 
ciously allow him to have for his purposes what we think 
we do not need for our own purposes. That is not the con- 
secration here inculcated. We are to present it a sacri- 
fice. We are to lay it all on his altar to be consumed in 
his service. This is a very different view of the great 
duty from that generally entertained by Christians. The 
prevalent view amongst them seems to be that they are 
15 



226 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

first to set apart for their own use so much as they think 
they need for that purpose, and then give to God the 
remainder. Unfortunately, their selfish conceptions of 
their own wants are usually so great that there is no 
remainder, or it is very small ; and that is the reason why 
the treasuries of the churches are almost always empty, 
and why the great causes in which the church is engaged 
have to go around amongst the churches, and at almost 
every door beg and beg, like poor mendicants, to get 
enough to keep them from perishing; and even then 
generally get only the trimmings and parings of liberal 
incomes. It is no such consecration as that the apostle 
here enjoins. The consecration he insists on is first to 
present to the Lord all that is ours, and then receive 
back from him for our own purposes so much as we see 
in his word he permits us thus to employ. And if that 
were the consecration characterizing his people, his trea- 
suries would overflow, and his work would be prosecuted 
with something like that vigor of which it is worthy. 

But there is still more in the text on this important 
subject. Not only must all that is ours be presented to 
the Lord a sacrifice, but it must be presented a living 
sacrifice. Under the old dispensation the time necessary 
for a sacrifice was very brief; perhaps an hour was 
abundantly sufficient for the purpose ; and the sacrifice 
was consummated by the death of the victim. But it is 
to no such sacrifice as that that we are here summoned. 
The time necessary for our sacrifice is the whole time 
from this moment forward to the end of our earthly 
history ; and the sacrifice is to be consummated, not by 
our being slain for the Lord, but by our living for him ; 
and, therefore, it is called a living sacrifice, a sacrifice 
that is to be repeated, continued, protracted to the last 
moment of our earthly existence. 



CONSECRATION. 227 

And not only must it be a living sacrifice, but it must 
be a holy sacrifice. Under the old dispensation it was 
necessary that the sacrifice offered should be without 
essential physical defect. The lamb must be without 
spot or blemish. It is necessary that this sacrifice to 
which we are here summoned shall be without essential, 
spiritual defect. That is, it is necessary that the motives 
prompting us to make it shall, at least prevalently, be 
such as are acceptable to God. It will not do to make 
this sacrifice simply because it is expedient, or because 
it is seemly, or because it secures the applause of men, 
or some other merely secular end, or because only by 
making it we can escape the righteous retributions of 
eternity. These may come in as subordinate motives 
prompting us to make it ; but if we would so make it 
that it shall be ' ' holy ' ' in his sight we must make it 
because he requires it, and because we love him, and 
because we wish to do his will, and to glorify his great 
and holy name. 

But the apostle has more yet to say on this important 
theme. Not only must we present all that is ours a 
living and a holy sacrifice unto the Lord, but we must 
do it voluntarily and cheerfully. He does not ask us to 
do it simply as a duty, or under the constraints of con- 
science, or that we may escape the divine displeasure ; 
but he beseeches us to do it by the mercies of God — the 
infinitely great and precious mercies that he had just 
been pointing out, and we are to make it gladly and 
gratefully in response to those mercies. And, then, once 
more, it is to be of the nature of religious worship. Such 
was the nature of all the sacrifices under the old dis- 
pensation ; and much more, if possible, must it be the 
nature of the more purely spiritual sacrifice here en- 
joined. 



228 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Such is the apostle's teaching as to this great duty ; 
and if we now sum up all that has been educed from the 
text, I think we shall find that the statement made at 
the beginning is true, that he teaches that it is our duty 
to make a voluntary and entire consecration of ourselves 
and all that is ours to God as an act of religious wor- 
ship. 

II. And now let us consider some of the doctrines that 
give rise to this duty ; or, what is the same thing, let us 
consider some of the reasons by which it is enforced. ' ' I 
beseech you," says the apostle, "by the mercies of God, 
to present your bodies a living sacrifice. ' ' I suppose he 
appeals both to the mercies that are in God and to the 
mercies that are from him. I may say, then, in the first 
place, that he here appeals to the mercies that are in 
God ; or, in other words, to the fact that God is a merci- 
ful being, to induce us to consecrate ourselves to him ; 
and there is good reason for this form of appeal. Men 
are by nature afraid to consecrate themselves to him. 
They are afraid their enjoyments will be abridged, their 
happiness diminished, their liberty infringed upon, and 
their secular prosperity interfered with. They are afraid 
that they will lose something desirable and valuable that 
they might else enjoy in this world. So far as the future 
is concerned they are convinced that it would be better 
to be the Lord's ; but so far as this life is concerned they 
can hardly help believing that much more that is desir- 
able and enjoyable may be secured by standing some- 
what aloof from God and his service, than by entire con- 
secration to it, and, therefore, they refuse to perform 
this duty. Now the apostle would remove that erroneous 
impression by assuring them that God is a merciful, an 
infinitely merciful being ; and that, therefore, he cannot 
mean b}- the consecration here asked to do them harm ; 



CONSECRATION. 229 

but must mean to do them good. He cannot mean to 
make their condition worse ; but must mean to make it 
better ; must mean to bestow on them richer enjoy- 
ments, and a higher happiness, and a truer liberty, and 
better qualifications for the discharge of all the secular 
duties of life. Certainly his people have always so found 
it. There never has been a man who truly consecrated 
himself to God who did not find it a change for the bet- 
ter in every important respect, and that all his highest 
interests for time and for eternity were promoted by it. 
He has found his " ways ways of pleasantness, and his 
paths paths of peace" ; his yoke easy and his burden 
light. He has found him ' ' a very present help in time 
of trouble " ; "a friend that sticketh closer than a 
brother ; " a guide in perplexity ; a comforter in sorrow ; 
a defender in danger ; and that the longer he continued 
in his service the richer became its rewards ; and those 
who have finished their course in his service have found 
that he went with them down into the dark valley of 
the shadow of death, and that he permitted them even 
there to fear no evil; and that on the farther side he 
took them up and presented them faultless before the 
presence of his glory with exceeding great joy. Such 
has been the experience of all those who consecrated 
themselves to him and spent their lives in his service. 
Here, then, is the apostle's appeal : "I beseech you by 
the mercies of God " — these mercies that he has bestowed 
on all his people in the past — I beseech you by these 
mercies to consecrate yourselves to him, that he may 
bestow these mercies on you. Ought not such an appeal 
to prevail with us? Unconverted friends, why should 
you hesitate to respond to it? What is the character of 
the master whom you are now serving ? How does he 
treat his servants ? Perhaps you may find an illustration 



230 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

of his character and of the manner in which he treats his 
servants in a fable that you may remember to have read. 
A tyrant once called one of his subjects into his presence 
and asked him what was his employment. He answered 
that he was a blacksmith. " Go," said he, " and make 
me a chain of such a length." He went and did as he 
was commanded, expecting to be suitably rewarded 
when he presented the chain completed in his master's 
presence. But his master only bade him go and make it 
twice as long; and this he did again and again, until the 
poor man's life had been worn out by his unrequited 
toil. Finally he presented himself in his master's pre- 
sence for the last time, hoping that then at least he 
would have compassion on him and minister to his long 
neglected wants. But, to his amazement, he only bade 
his servants come and take the chain he had made and 
bind him hand and foot and cast him into a furnace of 
fire ! Such is the character of the master you now serve. 
You are engaged in the service of sin. You have not 
yet received any very satisfactory reward ; but you are 
expecting it here often; and so you continue in that 
service. Alas ! you know not that all this promise of 
reward is mere delusion. You know not that you, too, 
are engaged in making a chain that is at last to fetter 
your own limbs. Every day you are making it longer. 
Every sinful thought ; every sinful feeling ; every sinful 
word ; every sinful act adds an additional link to it ; and 
soon it -will be sufficiently long to enwrap your whole 
being in the folds of an endless bondage, and then will 
come the dreadful command, ' ' bind him hand and foot, 
and cast him into the furnace of fire. " It is absolutely 
certain that this is to be the result of your service of sin ; 
' ' for the wages of sin is death. ' ' Why, then, should you 
hesitate to give up the service of such a master as that, 



CONSECRATION. 231 

and engage in the service of such a master as this, who 
never practises cruelties on his servants, and who never 
keeps back any promised rewards ; but who multiplies 
unto them grace and mercy and peace in this life, and 
in the life to come bestows on them glory and honor and 
immortality ? 

But the apostle appeals not only to the mercies that 
are in God. He appeals also to the mercies that are from 
God. He appeals to the mercies that are from God in 
providence to induce us to consecrate ourselves to his 
service. No thoughtful person can deny that he is kept in 
being every moment by the providential mercies of God. 
I know that many have the notion that they are their 
own preservers in life ; that they provide for themselves 
that on which they subsist, and so do not realize their 
dependence on God. But the groundlessness of the no- 
tion is easily revealed. Whose is the air we are now 
breathing, and who pours it around the world in such 
abundance and keeps it so fresh and pure? Whose is 
the light that every day shines down upon us from above, 
shedding around us its genial warmth and illuminating 
our pathway? Whose are the clouds that traverse the 
heavens, bringing us the early and latter rains and fruitful 
seasons, so that there is enough for man and for beast? 
Whose are the springs that rise among the hills and flow 
among valleys, quenching the thirst of every living 
thing? How does it come to pass that these natural 
agencies are constantly ministering to our ever-recurring 
wants? Are they the provisions of man's skill? He has 
no more to do with their existence and activites than he 
has to do with the remotest star that shines in the depths 
of space. God is their author, and all their movements 
are regulated by his will. But, now, without their 
ministrations we could not continue in existence for an 



232 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

hour. Let him take away the air we are now breathing ; 
let him extinguish the lights that shine in the heavens ; 
let him stop the kind ministrations of the clouds; let 
him bid the springs hide themselves in the caverns of the 
earth, and what then would become of man's vain notion 
that he is his own supporter in life? As quickly as he 
sprang up out of the dust would he return to it and be 
no more. Thus we are kept in being every moment by 
the mercies of God. But do these mercies deserve no 
recognition at our hands? Do they call for no love and 
for no service ? Can anything be plainer than this : that 
if we are kept in being every moment by the mercies of 
God that being ought to be consecrated to him ? This is 
the appeal the apostle here makes from the providential 
mercies of God. Ought we not to respond to it also? I 
confess I know not how to characterize the conduct of 
the man who sees that he is thus kept in being by the 
mercies of God, and yet deliberately goes on in sin against 
him. It may be illustrated by an historical incident. It 
is said that in the battle of Alma, in 1854, a wounded 
Russian soldier fell into the hands of the English and 
was piteously crying for water. An English captain 
stepped aside from the ranks of a passing regiment and 
ministered to his wants, and then hastened on to join his 
command. The wounded man was much refreshed, and 
struggling up in the use of the strength that captain's 
kindness had ministered to him, picked up his gun, de- 
liberately took aim, and shot him as he passed away in 
the distance. Now we are amazed ; we are indignant at 
such ingratitude as that. But what does the poor sinner 
do who is kept in being every hour by the mercies of 
God? He does not, indeed, in the use of the strength 
that God every hour confers upon him, inflict on him a 
mortal mound ; for he is beyond his reach, and, besides, 



CONSECRATION. 233 

is invulnerable to his assaults. But he does inflict on 
him the only wrong in his power. The very breath 
he gives him he breathes out before him, perhaps, in 
words offensive to his purity and insulting to his majesty. 
The very powers of body and mind he bestows on him 
he employs in violating his law, and the very being he 
preserves for him he moves up and down on the earth 
right before his face in the constant attitude of rebellion 
against his authority ! Dear unconverted friends, abhor 
such ingratitude as that, and since you are kept in being 
every hour by the mercies of God, do what is here 
insisted on : consecrate that being to him. 

But as the apostle appeals to the mercies that are from 
God in providence, so he appeals to the mercies that are 
from him in redemption. In this epistle he proves that 
all have sinned ; that all have gone astray ; that all are 
exposed to the penalty of the law ; that all are so unde- 
serving and so ill-deserving that they are justly exposed 
to the doom threatened against the finally impenitent ; 
but that, nevertheless, God has given for their redemp- 
tion the very most and the very best even he could give : 
the blood and life of his own Son ; and it is specially in 
view of this mercy — so wonderful ; so immeasurable — 
that he entreats us to devote ourselves to his service; 
and if we appreciate his appeal as we should, we will 
gladly say : 

' ' Lord, I am thine, entirely thine, 

Purchased and saved by blood divine ; 
With full consent thine I would be, 
And own thy sovereign right in me. 

" Thine would I live : thine would I die; 
Be thine through all eternity." 

The last appeal the apostle makes to secure this conse- 



234 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

cration is that it is our reasonable service. And who can 
say anything against it? Who can present anything 
that will have even the appearance of a reason why we 
ought not to do what is here enjoined ? Shall we not, 
then, do it? Shall we follow reason everywhere except 
where it is most important to follow it ? If so, let us 
not be surprised if the disastrous consequences shall 
hereafter be in proportion to the magnitude of our folly. 
I make one remark in conclusion. If Christians would 
perform the duty here enjoined, many of them would be 
much happier than they now are. They are in doubt as 
to the relation in which they stand to the Saviour. They 
walk in darkness ; and most probably the reason is that 
they are not performing this duty as they ought. They 
are not wholly consecrating themselves to God. If we 
keep back anything from him, he will keep back some- 
thing from us. If we keep back this consecration from 
him, he will keep back the evidence that we are his. 
But if we give ourselves to him, he will give himself to 
us. If we give ourselves wholly to him, he will give 
himself wholly to us ; and he will so dwell in us that we 
shall have the consciousness that we are his, and so have 
the "peace that passeth all understanding," and the 
"joy that is unspeakable and full of glory." 



PERSONAL WORK FOR THE MASTER. 

BY REV. WILLIAM N. SCOTT, D. D. 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Galveston, Texas. 



"And let him that heareth say, Come." — Rev. xxii. 17. 

[Read in connection John i. 40-51; Mark v. 18-20, and Rev. 
xxii. 17-21.] 

THE subject before us is one which cannot be pre- 
sented amiss to any assembly or congregation of 
worshippers. It is a duty to which we are all 
called by the Master, and by every prompting of a 
gracious and regenerate nature. To take part in this 
great work of calling men to repentance and to life; to 
' ' say ' ' to men about us, " come. ' ' No Christian, young 
or old, is excepted and exempted. His word to all of us 
is, son! daughter! " Go, 7Vork to-day in my vineyard.'" 

Let me say in the outset that there is a great deal of 
work — work that is necessary and important — done in 
the church and in connection with the church, which, 
while bearing on this work, is not precisely that to 
which he calls us when he says: "And let him that 
heareth say, Come." Many of us, perhaps, do other 
work, do it well and faithfully, who do but little, if any, 
of this work. 

What, then, do we mean by ii Perso?ial work for the 
Master ' ' ? We have several striking illustrations of it 
in the Scriptures read for our lesson to-day — e. g. (1), 
We read that when Andrew had found the Messiah, and 
had become convinced that he was the Christ of God, he 
235 



236 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

went after his own brother, Simon"; went after hirn 
earnestly and persistently, and "found him" and 
' ' brought him to Jestis. ' ' He could not convert him — 
save him ! but he could invite him and ' ' bring him to 
Jesus," who could save him! Here, then, we have a 
"brother " going after his own brother according to the 
flesh ; and, saved himself, seeking to save his brother. 
(2), Next, we have the case of Philip, who, when 
he had ' ' found him of whom Moses in the law and the 
prophets did write," immediately sought out and found 
his friend, Nathaniel, and called and invited him to 
Christ. And when Nathaniel, like many of our friends, 
would have objected and argued the matter with him, he 
gave the wise and sufficient answer : ' ' Come and see. ' ' 
The Christ to whom he called him would be the suffi- 
cient answer to all his difficulties. Here we have the 
case of a man converted to God, possessed of a religious 
hope, in turn going after his frie?id — his bosom com- 
panion; and, in the language of this text, "saying to 
him, Come" — inviting him to Christ, the Saviour of 
men. (3), Again, take the case of that poor sufferer 
whom Jesus healed in Gadara, who was possessed of 
many devils and driven by them into the mountains 
and the tombs. You remember that when he was 
healed and given back his reason, the first cry and 
prayer of his heart was that he might abide with the 
Master ! that he might still sit at his feet and listen to 
his gracious words ! It was a desire that we can all un- 
derstand and sympathize with. But the Master said to 
him, "Not so; I have work for you to do, the time of 
rest is not yet. Go home to thy friends and tell them 
there what great things the Lord hath done for thee, 
and hath had compassion on thee." Here, then, we 
have the head of a family, father or mother, commanded 



PERSONAL WORK FOR THE MASTER. 237 

and commissioned to go first to tJieir own and tell the 
story of God's love and grace, and seek the salvation 
of those whom God has given them. (4), And, in 
fine, in the language of the text, the "last message" 
of Jesus ascended, we have the solemn and tender 
charge, given to all, without regard to human ties and 
relationships, to say to men about them — to all men, to 
every sinning, suffering soul, — "God bids you come! " 
God sets before you ' ' an open door ! " " We pray you, 
in Christ's stead, be ye reco?iciled to God." What, then, 
is the meaning of our subject? It is God's call to all of 
us, to every one who loves him and obeys his voice, to 
take part in this great work of saving men — to ' ' say ' ' 
to men about us, " Come ! " to invite others to Christ! 

Our duty is personal ; our opportunites are personal ; 
our responsibility is personal; our reward will be per- 
sonal. ' ' Let him that heareth say, Come. ' ' 

In urging this subject upon my brethren — 

Remark I.: That this duty would seem, in advance of 
all statement and argument, to be both reasonable and 
natural. Saved ourselves that we should seek to save 
others. Plucked from the "miry clay and the horrible 
pit, " our ' ' feet placed upon the rock ' ' and a ' ' new song 
put into our mouths," we should as instinctively " tell 
to sinners round what' a dear Saviour we have found," 
as one rescued from the gates of death by the skill of his 
physician hastens to commend him to others about him 
who are suffering with the like affliction. Surely there 
is nothing unreasonable or fanatical in this ! He who 
should sit down at ease and indifference to the sufferings 
of others about him, and yet profess that he himself has 
been healed by the Great Physician of souls, would be a 
monster of ingratitude and inhumanity ! 

God has in mercy and in wisdom ordained this as our 



238 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

duty, and called us to this work. In mercy, because it 
is thus that we are enriched and blessed ourselves. ' ' He 
that watereth others shall be watered himself. ' ' There 
is no joy like this joy! The joy that filled a Saviour's 
heart. The joy of those who "turn many to righteous- 
ness. ' ' And, then, in zvisdom, too. For after all, though 
it be but an earthen vessel," yet none other can so tell, 
so effectively and so sympathetically tell, the joys of de- 
liverance and salvation as those who have themselves 
been rescued by his wondrous power and grace! Dr. 
Thomas Guthrie, in his " Gospel hi Ezekiel," tells of 
a stin-burnt stranger from some far-off eastern clime 
who one day stood on the streets of a great city, beside a 
spot where birds were offered for sale. As he saw them 
ruffling their gay plumage against their prison bars, the 
tears were in his eyes. Great was the wonder of those 
who stood by, when he bought first one and then another 
and another of the birds, and opened the doors and set 
them free, till they were all soaring and singing in the 
bright sunshine ! And when they asked him what it all 
meant, he answered, with deep emotion, " I was myself 
once a prisoner and I know the joys of liberty." 

No angel of God, or messenger from a sinless heaven, 
could ever so paint the pangs of sin or the joys of salvation 
as a redeemed and ransomed sinner ! Yes ; it should be 
a most natural thing to a gracious soul. 

Remark II. : Yet it is to be feared that it is a sadly- 
neglected work. There are many fair and reputable 
church members who take but small, if any, part in it. 
There are many who teach Sunday-school and Bible 
classes, and who prepare well for these duties, who do 
but little of this direct personal work. Nay, there are 
many who stand in the sacred desk and fill the responsi- 
ble place of ministers of the word who are sadly derelict 



PERSONAL WORK FOR THE MASTER. 239 

here, who find it easier to preach to the great congrega- 
tion than to ' ' carry the gospel from house to house, ' ' 
and from heart to heart. Our own heart and pastoral 
experiences differ much from those of others, if these 
testimonies are not sadly true. How often have we met 
with those who found it easier to talk to others on the 
subject of personal religion than to their own — the mem- 
bers of their own family circle ! Parents who could talk to 
a neighbor's child with more readiness than to their own 
flesh and blood ! Husbands and wives who have kept 
silence so long towards each as to the inner life that it 
seems impossible to break it. We are called here to 
"utter forth" — to "say" — to others — to our own — 
"come." I am not urging a noisy obtrusiveness — a 
testifying which is of the lip, and not of the heart! 
God forbid ! ! And yet a silence that is unbroken on 
such themes and with such motives, urging us to speak 
out, must be a " gtdlty silence." 

Remark III. : It is evident that this work greatly 
yieeds to be done. The opportunities of Christian minis- 
ters and of those Christian workers who give their whole 
life up to God's service are necessarily limited, however 
great they may be relatively. They can only reach a 
certain limited number ; and then, too, there are often 
those who, for one cause or another, are not accessible 
to them. 

But what if all the Lord's people were in this matter 
' ' prophets indeed ' ' ? What if the hundreds and thou- 
sands of Christians all about us were obeying this call 
and command: "Let him that heareth say, Come." 
Who can measure the results which would follow? 
What if our noble Christian physicians in the exercise of 
their high vocation did this work as they had oppor- 
tunity ? What if our business men, with the scores and 



24O SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

hundreds employed under them, used their great influ- 
ence to this holy end? What if the humblest Christian 
man or woman were faithful here, who can measure the 
glory to God in the salvation of men which would be the 
blessed result? Why, we should have Pentecost all the 
year round ! And this is the divine order and plan for 
securing it: "Let him that heareth say, Come." Let 
there be this warm, tender, universal call given ! and in 
answer to it the ' ' rivers of salvation ' ' will flow all 
about us ! ! 

It is greatly-needed work. Men expect it of you if 
they have confidence in your piety and Christian char- 
acter. It is the consistent thing they expect you to do. 
Your silence may be a great stumbling-block in their 
way, leading them to doubt the truth of all that which 
you profess. For, say they, ' ' if you believe these things 
how can you keep silent ' ' ! 

Said a young lady to her Bible-class teacher, when at 
length the teacher had broken silence and spoken to her 
warmly of her soul, ' ' I have been praying for months 
that you would speak to me." That teacher, perhaps, 
was not more remiss than most of us are ! All around 
us in life there are those who are waiting for the word 
at our mouth, and God is saying to us: "Keep not 
silence, but say to them from me, ' Co?ne.' " It is 
greatly needed. 

Remark IV. : Such work is greatly fruitful. There 
is none like it for fruitfulness. This work of going and 
carrying the invitation personally to men ; consecrating 
our personal affection, sympathy, and influence to the 
work of wooing and winning men to Christ. It is un- 
doubtedly true that in all times of true and heaven-given 
revival the best and largest results are reached mainly 
thus : Christians are stirred up and go to work ; those 



PERSONAL WORK FOR THE MASTER. 241 

who have been silent take up the gospel invitation and 
extend it with warmth and love ; and the quickening 
Spirit thus brings into the kingdom those who would 
otherwise never have been reached. It was so at the 
beginning, at Pentecost, when "they were all as- 
sembled with one accord, in one place, ' ' that the Spirit 
came in mighty power! It was God's answer to the 
earnest cry and awakening of his people. It is ever 
so. It ever shall be so. God never lays a command 
like this in our heart and conscience without pledging 
his divine power for our help. When those who were 
1 ' scattered abroad ' ' by the persecutions raised at Jeru- 
salem, "went everywhere preaching the word," they 
made converts and planted churches wherever they went. 
In answer to universal efforts there were universal re- 
sults. Can we doubt that if such a spirit took posses- 
sion of the church of Christ to-day, if every Andrew 
should bring his brother Simon, if every Philip should 
bring his friend Nathaniel, if every Christian now alive 
upon the earth should by God's help bring another to 
Christ, that ere the new century had advanced far into 
its decades the world would have been ransomed for God ; 
the hallelujah chorus of redeemed millions would be 
heard from isle to isle, from continent to continent, yea, 
' ' from the river to the ends of the earth ! ' ' 

Remark V. : I cannot now speak of the glory and 
blessedness of this work ; of the richness, the joy of that 
soul who, ' ' laboring with Christ, ' ' has turned many to 
righteousness," and in whose crown of rejoicing in 
heaven ' ' stars ' ' shall shine for ever. Such an one needs 
no monument of brass or marble to tell the story of his 
or her life. His monument is builded where there are 
"neither griefs nor graves." It will be unveiled when 
the King himself shall rise up and say, "Well done, thou 



242 SOUTHKRN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

good and faithful servant." "Come in, thou blessed of 
my Father, inherit the kingdom." 

hi closing let me add three thoughts as to how this work 
is to be done. We are agreed that it should be done. 
We have been remiss ; we confess it with sorrow. Now 
ho?v shall it be done. I answer : 

(t), Prayerfully . It should only be done, it can only 
be done, thus. Prayer is the only preparation which can 
avail ; not our eloquence, or learning, or skill in urging, 
but only that ' ' power with God and men ' ' which comes 
through. much prayer can give success here. One of the 
old Puritan fathers has well expressed this truth in the 
words : " First, go plead with God for men, and then go 
plead with men for God." Prayer, prayer alone unlocks 
the door and opens the way. 

(2), It must be done earnestly. It is no matter for idle 
conversation. If you would impress others you must be 
deeply impressed yourself; if you would move them you 
must be moved. Nothing is so quickly recognized as a 
deep and sincere interest in one's welfare, temporal or 
eternal. Let this be seen ; under God it will win its 
way. 

(3), It should be done at once. While we neglect and 
put off our duty to friends about us, they are passing 
away out of our sight one by one ; there are few of us, I 
suppose, who have not felt the sting of reproach for such 
neglect. ' ' Let him that heareth say, Come ! ' ' Let him 
say it at once, ere it is too late. When John Wesley 
was asked by Sophia Cooke ' ' how she should live, " he is 
said to have replied, " live to-day." Yes, "redeem the 
time. " " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might for there is no work, nor device, nor know- 
ledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." 



Joseph of arimathea.* 

THE CHRISTIAN OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH. 

BY REV. JOHN A. PRESTON, D. D. 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, N. C. 



' ' And after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple 
of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he 
might take away the body of Jesus." — John xix. 38. "And went 
in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus." — Markxv. 43. 

RESPECTABLE burial has ever been the dictate of 
enlightened friendship, and the records of the race 
are not older than the account of the efforts of 
friends to lay their dead lovingly to rest. Abraham 
would not receive the cave of Machpelah as a gift, but 
preferred the inalienable title by purchase. From Egypt 
to Machpelah was not too long or expensive a funeral 
journey at the death of Jacob ; while the bones of 
Joseph, preserved through centuries, were carried 
through the entire exode to be laid in the ancestral 
tomb. 

Nor was this instinct confined to God's people. The 
ancients, in some cases, even went so far as to condition 
immortal blessedness upon burial on earth ; and one of 
the most stirring of the Greek tragedies has as its pivotal 

* A word as to the suggestion of this topic may not be out of 
place : I was riding, some years ago, through one of the grand 
old country congregations of the Synod of Virginia. The de- 
voted pastor pointed to an attractive farm-home, shaded by 
ancient trees, and said, "There lives one of our best Christians, 
but he is a Joseph of Arimathea." I have since seen and plead 
with many such.— J. A. P. 

243 



244 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

point the heroic determination of a sister to brave the 
king and his death-threat, and to throw the needed 
handful of earth upon the body of her brother. That 
this sentiment has lost not one whit of its power in 
modern times, the tears shed and the money expended 
at the graves of our loved ones abundantly prove. 

And we are peculiarly impressed by any attention 
paid to our dead. Many a stranger, in our own land, 
has made a lasting friend of the old father by taking the 
boy, slain in battle, and giving him decent burial. Pos- 
sibly the exigencies of the times forbade more than an 
undressed pine coffin, still the old man remembers, upon 
his death-bed, to charge his. children if ever they shall 
meet the stranger to be kind to him who had been kind 
to them and theirs. 

This debt every Christian owes to the man whose life 
we are considering, Joseph of Arimathea. He kept 
Christ's body from being thrown unburied into the valley 
of Hinnom, or if even lightly buried, yet from being un- 
earthed and devoured by starveling dogs. The very 
thought makes the lover of the Lord shudder, to say 
nothing of the destruction of prophecy. This man saved 
our adorable Lord's body from the felon's fate and gave 
it the burial of friendship. We can linger but a moment 
over this solemn scene. What a contradiction in terms ! 
That he should die who was himself the author of life, 
yea, life itself! It is the best illustration possible of the 
indestructibility of faith, that these Christians could 
handle the dead hands, and touch the dead person, and 
yet say, my Lord. Not having the key to this mystery, 
Christ's death to them seemed the utter overthrow both 
of their hopes and of the truth of the Lord's words, and 
yet then, as often since, faith refused to surrender to 
perplexity. 



JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA. 245 

The scene was probably not as we have pictured it, a 
taking down from the cross, for Rubens' famous picture 
probably halts in this respect ; but it was rather with the 
cross prone upon the ground, while trembling hands first 
draw the nails, then wash the wounds, then wrap the 
body and the precious head in fine linen inlaid with 
spices ; and then these ministering men and women 
disappear with the precious burden, for time presses. 
Of the burial of Moses it has been said, ' ' That was the 
grandest funeral that ever passed on earth, ' ' but this one 
must be excepted. Alone and unique in the history of 
all time was this burial of the Lord of glory. As he 
had come into the world unheralded, so was he buried, 
with no requiem save the sob of the weeping women. 
As those highly-privileged ones carry their precious 
burden to lay it in a new rock-hewn tomb, we allow 
them to disappear, and turn our attention to the insti- 
gator and chief actor in the scene, Joseph of Arimathea. 

The notices of him are scant. Nothing is known of 
his previous history. Probably he had yielded to the 
impulse so potent in our own day, and had left his ob- 
scure village for the larger business opportunities of the 
city. But few as are the lines devoted to the history of 
this man, there are several exceedingly significant state- 
ments. Joseph was probably a member of the Sanhedrin, 
the great court of the Jews, deprived at that time, indeed, 
of its power, but not of its august authority in the eyes 
of the Jews. Then Joseph was rich ; from the emphasis 
given, he was probably very rich; relatively speaking, 
he was a Jerusalem millionaire. But he had not been 
seduced by his money, for he was righteous. Nor did 
his goodness stop here, for he was religious, and not 
only did he fear Jehovah, but he had first waited for, and 
then accepted the Messiah. Thus this man possessed 



246 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

money, position, and character, that enviable trio of gifts, 
and, best of all, faith in Christ. Brief as the record is, we 
already see that Joseph is a marked man. But we have 
yet to mention that which should give him a place among 
the world's heroes, his sple?idid courage. The danger 
was so intense that even the bold Peter shrank from the 
cross ; indeed, no one of the followers of Christ, save only 
John, whose love could not be daunted, dared mingle 
with that blood-thirsty crowd, and even John was wisely 
quiet. But this man went boldly to Pilate and asked 
to be permitted to honor the man whom the crowd had 
just murdered, thereby accusing every one who had 
taken part in the crucifixion of being a murderer. Espe- 
cially would this act on the part of a member of the San- 
hedrin be an insult to those Pharisees and rulers who 
had led the murderous mob. 

Joseph imperilled his all by this act. His place as a 
ruler he absolutely forfeited ; he could never again meet 
with the Sanhedrin. Should he ever presume to attend 
its meeting, it would happen to him as to Cataline in the 
Roman Senate, that all men would shrink from him and 
leave him alone. Thus Joseph threw away the highest 
position within reach of his ambition. And then his 
great wealth was also exposed to robbers. In Be?i Htir 
we have probably an accurate picture of the peril in 
which property stood when the owner had fallen under 
suspicion. The greedy Roman officials were all too 
eager and able to combine with local enemies and filch 
away the wealth they so lusted for. There was thus 
every reason for Joseph to fear that his act would im- 
poverish him. More than this, his very life was en- 
dangered. How easy for those Pharisees who had 
maddened the mob by the cry, "crucify him," to point 
to the home of Joseph and say, "crucify kz'm." Espe- 



JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA. 247 

cially does this splendid act of courage move us when we 
remember that it was not under the impulse of passion, 
or moved by the hope of renown, but for pure principle" s 
sake. The deeds which have called out the world's 
shout of admiration have usually looked to this applause 
and have been inspired by it. In one of the famous 
naval battles of old, spectators lined the shore as far as 
the eye could reach, so that even the coward felt 
himself a hero, for the eyes of the world were upon 
him. We are made to believe that old Horatius stand- 
ing at the bridge's mouth in the early dawn of his- 
tory, though he dared not look around, yet felt that 
all Rome was looking on, and that his wife stood upon 
the porch of their home a spectator of the deeds of 
her husband; and that his was his country's cause, for 
was he not ready to die for ' ' the ashes of his fathers and 
the temple of his gods"? But this man, Joseph, had 
none of these incentives. No martial music stirred his 
blood, no tattered banner fired his imagination, no praise 
for which to hope, but only contempt. As this man sat 
in his home awaiting the hour, he could see that dis- 
grace would fall upon his family ; men would curse his 
very memory, as they had done that of Jereboam, son of 
Nebat. There was nothing to inspire, but everything 
to discourage, and yet he went forward, sacrificing 
wealth, position, and very life if need be, for pure prin- 
ciple' s sake. As we erect statues to the great men of the 
past, might not a modest statue point to the memory of 
the man who held duty above the opinion of friends or 
considerations of safety ? 

But as much as we admire Joseph of Arimathea, yet 
when we remember what he left undone we are tempted 
to forget what he did. He refused to confess Christ during 
his life ; he buried the Lord when dead, but took no part 



248 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

in his work. And the Saviour needed just such a friend 
as Joseph ; when the contemptuous question was asked, 
"have any of the rulers believed on him?" this man 
should have been the answer. What strength he would 
have been to the disciples, and what comfort to the Lord. 
To think of his shutting his door against the weary 
Christ on those evenings when the Son of man had not 
where in Jerusalem to lay his head, but must needs go to 
Bethany for sympathy and shelter. He may have been 
a great man, but it is hard, indeed, to forgive him for 
his neglect of our Saviour. As we exercise the sweet 
privilege of hospitality, how often we wish we could have 
had the Master under our humble roof. To think of a 
believer, who could have done so, and yet would not 
entertain the Lord, and that in the hour of the Master's 
need ! To think of this man standing by and hearing 
the rude Jews jeering the Lord without taking the 
Master's part ! Shame upon such a man and shame 
upon his memory ! He did much, but he left more 
undone ! 

From the violent contrasts of this striking history, 
three pointed truths claim attention — 

I. The first is a sweet and most consoling lesson : 
That there is salvation outside of the visible church. Joseph 
was a true Christian, and had he died before his great act 
he would have been saved. We believe many do thus die. 
An earnest Christian once asked the speaker not again 
to make this statement, lest it confirm souls in the sin of 
neglecting church membership, but the preacher is not 
responsible for the influence of truth ; and this is truth, 
and consoling truth. For are there not many whose 
memories make it impossible for them to enjoy the 
thought of heaven, lest they should be lonely there? 
Now if the loved ones, already gone before, were not 



JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA. 249 

Christians, then a merciful God help you to bear this 
heaviest earthly sorrow, and he will ! But if these 
loved ones were Christians, only not professing Chris- 
tians, does it not lift a crushing weight from the heart 
to hear that in the olden times there was a true disciple, 
but one secretly, for fear of the Jews? 

II. The second lesson is almost in the teeth of the first. 
It is: That however God may forgive, 7iothing can excuse 
the neglect of church membership ; with double emphasis 
upon the negative — Nothing can excuse ! And by 
church membership we do not mean simply enrolment 
in the church, nor a passing expression of faith — Joseph 
once voted for Christ — but whole-souled consecration to 
the work. In these days of easy profession the outer 
circle of the church is naturally large ; many uncon- 
verted, and many converted but unconsecrated ; while 
the true church is the inner circle, who are making an 
honest effort to give Christ their all. Now we repeat 
our proposition, that nothing can excuse a true believer 
from at once taking a stand within this inner circle. The 
battle has been joined, and we must stand upon one side 
or the other. It is for Christ or against Christ. If we 
will not take one stand, the devil claims us for his own 
and gains all the credit. A solemn statement upon this 
point fell from our Saviour's lips, "He that is not with 
me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me 
scattereth abroad" ; where not simply the act of being 
on Christ's side is made necessary, but we must belong 
to the lux? vesting -force, otherwise we undo his work. It 
is admitted that it is not fair for Satan to claim the influ- 
ence of a secret Christian, but what cares he for fair 
means or foul? The fact is undeniable; a father may 
go from his knees to the sanctuary, but if he does not 
take his seat with the communicants how can he expect 



25O SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

his son to consider him a Christian ? Is it not entirely- 
possible that the sons of Joseph of Arimathea took part 
in the crucifixion and dyed their hands in the blood of 
the father's Christ? What had their father ever done to 
show his allegiance to the Nazarene? No parents need 
expect the conversion of their children if they neglect 
church membership ; and even if one parent is a devoted 
Christian, yet the children are naturally inclined to follow 
the one whose life is such as their unrenewed hearts 
love. We believe that fathers who either neglect the 
duty of church membership, or who live formal church 
lives, are responsible for unsaved children ! The same 
is true of every relationship which gives influence. The 
head of a mercantile or manufacturing establishment, or 
one holding any part of trust in these great enterprises, 
is directly responsible for this influence. The church is 
the great means of witness-bearing, and work in the 
church, for instance, the Sabbath-school work, devotion 
to the sick, liberality and regularity, all have a far wider 
influence than the visible results ; for whenever the un- 
saved think of religion, the life of their business supe- 
rior enters as a helping factor. It makes it easier to 
love Christ and lead a pure life : the influence is on the 
right side. On the other hand, how natural for a factory- 
girl to dismiss religious convictions when she meets her 
employer upon the street and recognizes in him one who 
has taken no stand for Christ. The devil very gladly 
suggests that this man has had the time and opportunity 
for investigation, and that if he is not a Christian there 
can be no reality in religion. This is a deadly influence, 
and there is no mode of escape save a hearty profession 
of Christ. This influence is probably more potent in the 
case of teachers in our schools and colleges than in any 
other work, and for obvious reasons; but we forbear; 



JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA. 25 1 

suffice it to say that a student cannot learn sufficient 
mathematics to calculate, or language to state the harm 
a non-professing teacher will do in a life-time, by un- 
settling the convictions of students at the critical time of 
their lives. While blessed is the memory of those teach- 
ers, who, while worshipping in the temple of learning, 
acknowledge no king but Jesus ! 

It is. however, when we remember that this influence 
is not only certainly hostile, but that it destroys the im- 
mortal part of man, that we see the full strength of the 
case ; and if additional argument were needed we have 
only to remember the insult to Christ, the unpardonable 
neglect of his precious love. We condemn Joseph of 
Arimathea for neglecting the Lord, but we know more 
fully and see far more clearly than he the merits of the 
great Christ. To accept his wonderous redemption and 
yet be afraid to acknowledge the giver is base ingrati- 
tude. Nor can there be any excuse or reason for delay ; 
for we are not arguing with unbelievers, but with those 
who already believe. We return to the statement that 
it is unpardonable ingratitude to Christ, and cruel injus- 
tice to any within the circle of your influence, not to stand 
out at once and boldly. Nothing can excuse this sin. 
This whole truth may find fitting expression in a case 
which occurred in one of the quiet God-loving homes of 
our church. The gentleman was an earnest Christian, 
but a Joseph of Arimathea ; in answer to his wife and 
pastor when they urged him to join the church, he plead 
the fact that he was not in exact doctrinal accord with 
the church he attended, and it was his wont to add, 
".after all the Christian life is an inward one, and I 
strive to live that life." But after this Christian had 
grown old outside of the church, a young man came to 
him and said that he had thought of being a Christian, 



252 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

but had concluded to follow his example. Imagine the 
shock to this godly man : follow his example, and reject 
Christ ! The very next Sunday the man not simply 
asked to be received into the church, but demanded it. 
He could scarcely wait the week out ! And thus he 
testified to this one young man that he was not against 
Christ ; but could he go back over the past fifty years of 
his life and undo what those years had done, or speak 
to the many young men whom his example had influ- 
enced ! We are convinced that many make the irre- 
trievable mistake and that theirs is the experience of 
another Joseph of Arimathea. When dying he drew his 
pastor close to him, and, with almost his last breath, 
said, "I go to heaven, for I have for years trusted 
Christ, but oh! that I had confessed him." Nothing 
can excuse this sin, nor can there be any valid reason for 
postponement. 

in. There is yet another lesson enfolded in this his- 
tory : Joseph was hindered by fear, a?id it is still fear 
which prevents confession a?id destroys Christian testimony. 
We seem to have here a decided inconsistency. We 
have just spoken of Joseph as a hero of splendid courage, 
while now we charge him with cowardice. But is not 
this the paradox of the human heart? There are many 
men among us who have proven their courage on the 
field of battle. Their bravery has gone upon record, and 
even if they should have the good sense to decline a score 
of foolish duels, no one could dare call them cowards ; 
and yet these dauntless heroes are afraid to attempt 
family worship ; and that, too, when there would be no 
hostile audience, as the overjoyed wife gathered the chil- 
dren around their fireside. And yet the hero of half a 
hundred battles is afraid ! 

This paradox of the human heart is all too apparent. 



JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA. 253 

We believe Christians would still die for their faith ; that 
if the enginery of hell was again set in motion, those 
inventions of Satan to crush the foot, torture the hand, 
draw apart the limbs in slowness of exquisite torture, or 
burn the body ; that if the hell-inspired Inquisition was 
upon us, if the air was shattered by the shrieks of our 
own family ; that yet, rather than curse Christ, we would 
die ! Rather than take any of the Inquisition's hideous 
forms of blasphemous recantation upon our lips, we 
would submit even to these hell-devised tortures. And 
yet we are afraid to speak for Christ. We are afraid to 
testify in our daily lives. This sad failure was aptly 
expressed by a Christian woman. I asked her to try 
and reach a poor old woman, whom I had failed to 
interest. This Christian woman said, ' ' I cannot speak 
to her; I do love Jesus, but I am such a coward in the Ut- 
ile things. ' ' This was precisely the failure with Joseph ; 
rather than see his Lord's body thrown to the dogs, he 
would die — would face a mob of devils, but he shrank 
from the gaze of the Sanhedrin or the smile upon the 
streets. Brave at a crisis, but a coward in little things; 
and in this we all fail ; men who would die for Christ are 
even afraid of the church session as it meets to welcome 
Christ's children to his fold. We hold our finger just 
here upon the weakness of the church ; our testimony is 
deadened through our cowardice in little things. We 
need to learn the lesson of a blind girl during the days 
of later Rome : several drunken ruffians are said to have 
stopped her before a statue of the emperor and com- 
manded her to kneel and worship. The child's simple 
answer was, "we kneel to no one but Jesus"; nor 
would she yield, although those fiends crushed her poor 
body with brutal stones. It is an immortal lesson, to 
have courage in small things and great ; to kneel to no 
one but Jesus. 



254 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

We leave this striking life-story with this pleasing- 
thought : its great mistake was made good before it was 
too late. While Joseph could not recall the priceless 
opportunity of ministering to the Son of God during the 
days of his earthly humiliation and need, yet he did come 
out boldly at the last ; and when he was again ushered 
into that august presence, he came not as a lean, barren 
soul, but was welcomed by the angels as one of the 
privileged few who had been permitted to take part on 
the Lord's side in the great tragedy which culminated 
at Calvary. 

The aim of this discourse has been to plead with you 
to follow the same course ; to come out before it is too 
late. It is a plain step. Many truths which are pressed 
by the preacher are beset with perplexity in their appli- 
cation. Not so this ; the need is a simple, straight- 
forward step of duty. Take your stand decidedly within 
the inner circle of the church; undertake her work; 
bear her burdens ; share her disappointments ; and you 
shall enjoy her rewards. 



THE STRIVING SPIRIT 

BY REV. ROBERT P. KERR, D. D., 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va. 



" My Spirit shall not always strive with men." — Genesis vi. 3. 

IN the sixth chapter of Genesis we have set before us 
the imposing spectacle of God the Holy Spirit striving 
with a wicked world and race of men. Sin had 
reached its hideous culmination. Crime of every kind 
was almost universal, and earth seemed to have become 
a province allied to the dominion of Satan. The cup of 
iniquity being nearly full, God was going soon to press 
it to the guilty lips of men, that they might drain to its 
dregs the bitter draught ; and the cloud of divine wrath 
was soon to break with the crash of world-wide destruc- 
tion upon the human race. 

But though the progress of iniquity had been steady 
and rapid, it had not reached its culmination without 
divine interference. In all their wretched criminality 
there had been present and active among men the august 
personality of the Holy Spirit. The text lifts the veil- 
which hides the unseen, and we behold, from the divine 
standpoint, a progress which had not gone on unresisted 
from above. God the Holy Ghost placed himself in the 
way of this terrible defection of the world from truth 
and righteousness. The men of that day and their 
fathers had travelled far from all that is good, but at 
every step they had been confronted and opposed by a 
divine barrier. Over God's most gracious influences 
they had trod, and in spite of a resisting omnipotence of 
255 



256 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

love they had progressed until they reached a height of 
crime that lifted its face into the very presence of the 
majesty of heaven. 

It may be asked, How could man surpass resisting 
omnipotence? How could man overcome God? The 
answer is easy. Man is not a puppet, without power of 
choice; he is not a beast, without intellect, soul, con- 
science. He is a free moral agent originally imaged 
after God ; and his Maker has never forced him against 
his will to do anything good. This would be to unmake 
man, to degrade him to a brute. God respects man in 
his freedom, nor does he seek a slavish service of the 
soul. In later times Christ, at the threshold of man's 
volition, declares, ' ' Behold I stand at the door and knock. ' ' 
So in the days before the flood the Holy Ghost strove 
with man, but did not force his will. 

How great the rebelliousness of mankind was may be 
estimated from what it was able to overcome. For in 
the gigantic struggle with divine grace they came off 
winners, gaining for themselves by this overmastery the 
victory of black and awful success. 

This could not continue forever. The Spirit would 
not be insulted with perpetual impunity. God's wrath 
is aroused, and over the heads of men fall those pregnant 
words, " My Spirit shall not always strive with man." 
The world had lived out its probation, and the hour was 
set on the dial-plate of time for the destruction of the 
human race by a catastrophe the most stupendous that 
history records. The Spirit departed ; grieved, he turned 
away, and the blow fell in swift retributive justice upon 
mankind, in the flood by which all perished except the 
family of one righteous man. 

Hew did the Spirit strive then, and how does he strive 
with men to-day ? 



THE STRIVING SPIRIT. 257 

It was, and is, by the use of the whole apparatus of the 
universe; in other words, by the use of everything that 
is. The powers of nature show in turn the goodness 
and the wrath of God. Does calm sunshine mean 
nothing ? Is there no lesson in the sunset ; no invita- 
tion in the yellow harvest-fields? Have all the joys of 
life no heavenly undertone of love and mercy ? 

Yea, and tempest, disease, fire, famine, death ; is there 
no warning in them to listening minds? Nature tells 
us in unmistakable utterance that whatsoever a man 
soweth that shall he also reap. Surely, she says, sin 
against law means misery, sorrow, and death. God has 
put a voice in everything that he has made, from glitter- 
ing star to lily, rose, or wheat-sheaf; in disease, light- 
ning flash, death, and even hell, to tell men that sin 
must have its awful fruition and punishment. All this 
prodigious universe, thrilled with the living presence of 
the eternal Spirit, throws its barrier across the path that 
leads away from God and truth. It was so before the 
flood ; it is so to-day. 

Then, also, God had living witnesses. He has never 
been without some to rebuke a wicked and perverse 
world. By example and by preached word the Spirit 
strove to recall the prodigal race of man. A line of 
preachers extends back in unbroken procession from this 
day to the gates of Paradise. Men have not been left to 
the mute testimony of nature alone, nor the foreign in- 
terference of angels, but they have had witnesses for 
God of their own flesh, and blood, and kindred. There 
have always been, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, 
men to preach to men ; men to strive, and pray, and 
weep over the iniquity of their fellows. Noah and his 
predecessors preached righteousness to their contempo- 
raries, and Noah's successors have never ceased thus to 

T7 



258 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

preach, from the time of the flood to this hour, when by 
the Spirit's appointment souls are warned, by human 
voices, to fly from the wrath to come. 

In our time the magnificent institution of a gospel 
church, that touches every shore and nation, preaches 
from ten thousand pulpits, and from house to house, the 
truths of responsibility, judgment to come, and mercy 
through the cross. These are preached, and prayed, and 
sung in the hearing of millions. On the myriad pages 
of journal and bound volume Christ is set forth, and 
civilization is but the rostrum for the preaching of the 
gospel. 

Is not all this a striving of God's Spirit? Never since 
the gospel promise blazed over Eden's wreck has he put 
forth such energies for the resistance of evil, and the 
salvation of sinners. 

But what of words and example in the sphere of pri- 
vate life? Take we no account of a devout father's life 
and admonitions ; of the teachings of a gentle, believing 
mother, at whose knees we learned our earliest prayer? 
Are not these and all the gracious influences by which 
loved ones have sought to win us for God and heaven 
the very doing of the Holy Spirit? They are, and his 
power is present in all of them. His influence touches 
us at every point of life's varied story. 

Leave now all consideration of these external means. 
Shut out the world, and in thy inmost soul sit down, 
where only the heart beats, and conscience whispers. 
Is not this the Holy Spirit's agent also? Yes, and 
above, behind, and under conscience there is his voice 
itself. God the Holy Ghost breathes upon the soul. 
You know this, you have felt it; yes, and alas! you 
have resisted it. Unconverted man, you have resisted it 
as many days as you have lived since the dawn of moral 



THE STRIVING SPIRIT. 259 

consciousness ; and, it must be added, you have resisted 
successfully. 

Shall this resistance and this striving of the Holy 
Ghost go on forever? No. It shall not go on perpetu- 
ally with the world, with any nation, or any single soul. 
The striving of the Spirit has an end. A day comes 
when it is all over, and the soul is forsaken forever to its 
own chosen lot and fate. 

This always occurs at the death of the unbelieving and 
impenitent. Death ends the conflict. Probation is only 
in time. The Holy Spirit has no work in hell to save 
the lost. Of time, it may undoubtedly be said: It is 
now or never. The funeral of the body is sad enough, 
but what shall we say of the funeral of a lost soul? No 
angels to bear it singing to eternal rest, but only the 
fellowship of the doomed and hopeless. He does not 
always wait for the end of life. The striving Spirit 
sometimes leaves the resisting soul long before death. 
There is a sin against the Holy Ghost, for which no 
prayer is commanded to be offered, which no penitential 
tears can follow, and upon which no pardoning grace can 
ever fall. 

Though the sin against the Holy Ghost is a matter 
shrouded in mystery, we have reason to believe that the 
Pharisees committed it when they said of Jesus, "This 
fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub, the 
prince of devils. ' ' The gracious miracles of healing done 
by our Lord in driving demons from the breasts of men, 
the Pharisees ascribed to a partnership with Satan. This 
was a sin against that Holy Spirit by whom these works 
of mere}' were performed. 

Just how this sin may be committed it is impossible 
definitely to say. In general terms we may venture to 
state that it is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and 



26o SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

also a deliberate and persistent rejection of his presence 
and influences, though we cannot point out the definite 
acts of the soul b) r which this is done. 

The most dreadful thing we know in this world is the 
desertion of a soul by the Spirit. The fittest symbol of 
such a case is a human body forsaken by the soul. The 
most mournful of all sights is that of a corpse. The 
tabernacle of the mind is empty. No flash of thought 
lightens the eyes. No gleam of intelligence illumines 
the countenance. The silver cord is loosed and the 
golden bowl is broken. The wheel is broken at the 
cistern. The mansion is desolate, untenanted, and 
doom, death, decay, are written all over it. The most 
melancholy of all buildings is a crumbling, deserted 
house ; and as we gaze upon it, the mind vibrates be- 
tween the present desolation and the past, when living 
forms moved and happy voices sounded within its walls. 

So with a body deserted by the soul. A marble statue, 
a precise counterfeit of the body, is not mournful, because 
we know it never was the dwelling-place of mind ; but 
the body dead stands for desertion, and we grieve to 
look upon it because it has lost the life it had. 

Thus the state of a soul bereft of the Holy Ghost is 
mournful because of its awful loss. Within it once the 
Holy Spirit dwelt. Along its halls of thought and feel- 
ing passed his gracious life and breath. But now he is 
gone, and gone forever. No more shall holy influence 
wrap it in gentle warmth. No more shall tender 
thoughts of God, and penitence for sin be felt within it. 
Nothing now is left but a deserted moral tenement, a 
soul doomed to decay forevermore. 

In view of sorrowful meditations like these, many an 
anxious heart has asked itself the question : Have I 
committed the sin against the Holy Ghost which is never 
forgiven in this world or the next? 



THE STRIVING SPIRIT. 26l 

Well, let us see : To ask the question sorrowfully, 
tenderly, hoping you have not committed this sin, this 
itself furnishes an answer. You have not, or you would 
not ask, in this spirit, the question. Have you any 
sorrow for sin that is more than mere regret occasioned 
by wounded pride or fear of punishment? any longing 
for salvation and peace with God? Then you have not 
sinned away the Spirit. The reason is plain : These 
tender yearnings are the Spirit's own work. He has 
not .left you, for he has made you anxious and con- 
cerned about your soul. 

Let us see what ground you have for hope. This 
anxiety you feel about your soul is proof that you may 
yet be saved. Your holy guest has not departed. These 
tender drawings are your hope of salvation and blessed 
peace. As a practical question, in view of this, what 
shall you do to be saved? 

Give way to the Spirit's drawings. Cultivate and 
cherish his influence on your soul. Strive not to banish 
your rising sense of sinfulness. Do not turn off your 
thoughts on other things, and try to quench that whichis 
bringing you to repentance. A very slender silken line 
is fastened to your heart, and by it he is drawing you 
towards life and light. Do not break this gentle fetter. 

Pray for your own soul. Have you ever really asked 
God for eternal life? Have you truly and sincerely 
sought pardon at the cross? You have uttered words, 
but has your heart prayed ? have you wrestled with God 
for his unspeakable gift? Certainly you have not, if you 
are yet away from God. We look with utmost sorrow 
on a prayerless person, and are dismayed to think of 
knees that never bend before the throne of grace, and of 
lips that never open to utter the name of him who is the 
giver of all good. Little better is the soulless prayer, 



262 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the petition made up of words, without feeling, and 
without faith. 

Do the things he suggests. What are they ? Put that 
besetting sin beneath your feet. Is there some darling 
thing that stands in your heart and keeps the Holy Spirit 
from the sway he seeks? Turn his hateful rival out. 
It is more than folly to risk eternal life for a mere plea- 
sure, and that one which is unworthy of a place within 
your breast. 

Seek in God's holy word to know the way of life. 
Here are the teachings to point you to pardon and peace. 
Read it to know the truth, not from habit, nor necessity, 
but with a motive to learn the way to God. Seek the 
guidance of the Spirit as you read. He will make the 
word a living power in your soul, and the very light of 
everlasting life. 

The soul not deserted by the Holy Ghost has great 
reason to hope, and this hope may be turned at once into 
fact and sweet fruition. Your soul is' yet his abiding- 
place. He is not very welcome ; you allow rather than 
invite his presence ; you do not make your breast his home. 
He is but a visitor whom you do not admit to intimacy. 
There are some parts of your soul you do not allow him 
to enter. If you have guests in any room which you 
could not present to him, bid them depart at once. 

Let him dominate your beliefs, your affections, and 
your will. Say: I will believe the things he teaches, 
will love the things he loves, will do the things that 
please God, and my will shall follow the promptings of 
the Holy Spirit. He will assume control if you submit, 
and will undertake a work of renewing, sanctifying 
power, by which you shall be cleansed from sin and 
made comformable to the image and character of Christ. 
The work is grace and the end will be glory. ' 



APPLIED CHRISTIANITY. 

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? 

BY REV. R. K. SMOOT, D. D. 
Pastor of the Free Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas. 



'And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, 
saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said 
unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And 
he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and 
with all thy mind ; and thy neighbor as thyself. . . But he, will- 
ing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neigh- 
bor?" — Luke x. 25-29. 

THE one who introduced this conversation claimed 
to be seeking the way of eternal life. He was on 
the right track. Had he pursued it he might have 
been saved. He had gone to the right person. For Jesus 
Christ is the only source and fountain-head of all the 
knowledge the world has of the thing which this man 
sought. Through him alone comes the fact of redemp- 
tion and the truth of salvation. The way to that un- 
known God, in search of whom the whole world was 
groping, was all dark and trackless till Jesus Christ 
brought life and immortality to light through his gospel. 
To him we must go, whether we would have that know- 
ledge or the wisdom whose function it is to guide all 
knowledge. It was in the image of God that man was 
created "in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness," 
but the wisdom to adjust and keep these in their proper 
play was the one thing that man had not. And seeking 
to find that wisdom in forbidden ground, his hopes, for 
time and eternity, were wrecked. And man was broken 
263 



264 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

to pieces on the adverse wheel of fortune in this rash 
experiment upon the veracity of the Almighty. From 
that day to this, in all ages, among every people and 
kindred of the earth, there has been a longing of man to 
get back to God. 

And why ? Because in all the vast range and wide 
sweep of creation man alone is the only creature endowed 
with a moral nature ; a nature in which there could be 
planted a moral standard of action — the proper and only 
field for the existence and exercise of conscience. It is 
this moral nature which separates man — by the whole 
diameter of his conscious being — from all the other ani- 
mal creation. The wild beast of the field devours his 
victim ; the bird of the air consumes his prey ; the fish of 
the deep live on their kind. But with them there is no 
regret, no remorse, no conception of crime, no idea of 
murder, simply because they are not rational, they have 
no moral nature, no conscience. Nowhere in all animate 
nature, outside of human nature, is there such a thing 
as social life, or fellowship, or binding reciprocal obliga- 
tion, or sense of duty. Where there is no moral na- 
ture there can be no moral law, and consequently no 
moral accountability, no duty to God, no duty to man, 
no final judgment, no eternal life. It is in man alone 
that both duty and accountability to God and his fellow- 
man is vested. And every time that a question of con- 
science arises it involves both of these, either directly or 
remotely. 

I. " What shall I do to inherit eternal life ? " is a moral 
question. "Who is my neighbor?" is equally a ques- 
tion of conscience. This lawyer, eminent, distinguished 
and learned in his profession — "a certain lawyer" — was 
dealing with a question of conscience. He came to the 
proper person, the only one who could lead him as an 
unerring guide and instruct him as an infallible teacher. 



APPLIED CHRISTIANITY. 265 

"What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" A ques- 
tion which each one of us must ask at some time. A 
question the solution of which each one of us must find 
if we would escape eternal death. 

But the context says, he "tempted him." Yes, 
that is the way it reads — "a certain lawyer stood up, 
and tempted him." After such investigation as I have 
been able to give this passage, governed, as I have been, 
by the accepted rules of interpretation of Scripture, I 
have reached the conclusion that this lawyer was not ' ' in 
contempt. " I do not believe the question was asked in 
any spirit of hostility, even though there may have been 
no great and overpowering desire for a clear and un- 
equivocal answer. Habits, of thought, and investiga- 
tion, and utterance, fasten themselves on men like a 
' ' second nature ' ' and characterize the individuality of 
each. This man's habits were those of a lawyer. He 
wanted to find out, by questions, what this great Teacher 
from Galilee knew of this the chiefest of all issues. He 
was testing the Saviour. He was moving along the lines 
of investigation for information. In proof of this we must 
not forget that the word here translated ' ' tempted " is a 
broad word in its meaning. It may indicate, as I think 
it does in this case, no bad purpose, but a test merely to 
bring out fully facts before unknown. For we must 
remember that it is the intent of the one putting the test, 
the motive in the heart, which makes it either good or 
bad. Many illustrations of this might be given. In 
Luke xxiv. 28 our Saviour tempted his disciples when 
"he made as though he would have gone further." 
Also in Mark vi. 48, when he came unto his disciples 
and ' ' would have passed by them . " I do not mean that the 
language in each one of these passages is the same ; but I 
do mean, that in each case the disciples were put to a test by 
their Saviour. And I do further claim that the meaning 



266 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

of the word here used does, in the original language, 
justify fully the interpretation I have given it. Then, 
again, the question itself involves an issue too grave and 
too grand to allow any malignant intent to attach, and 
the final answer of the lawyer himself is offered in proof. 
We find all through these Scriptures that the ' ' Son of man' ' 
never failed to give a respectful hearing and a suitable 
answer to any and all who came to him with honest 
doubts and serious questions. This lawyer was evidently 
feeling for the truth. He would test the power of God's 
greatest witness by putting the greatest of all questions, 
one involving the issues of eternal life. The Saviour 
turns him back upon his own profession, asking him to 
state the laws of the case. He was its professed teacher, 
now let him become its practical expounder. ' ' What is 
written in the law ? how readest thou ? " A double 
question, involving a double answer. What is the text of 
the law ? How do you interpret it ? To the law he went. 
His perfect knowledge of that law enabled him to refer 
at once to the very passage in question. (Deut. vi. 5, 
and Lev. xix. 18.) He quotes correctly and gives the 
meaning, ' ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, 
and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." 
A true and correct answer, a fair and consistent interpre- 
tation, a manly, frank, and open confession. Then said 
the Saviour, " This do, and thou shalt live." 

II . How near many a man comes to the kingdom of God 
and then stops in a dead halt, a stubborn, selfish resist- 
ance, a refusal to yield any further ; but moving off at 
right angles, springs with amazing alacrity, a side issue, 
a different and subordinate question. And so here a dif- 
ficulty comes up, a new obstacle arises. ' ' But he, willing 
to justify himself, said unto Jesus, Who is my neighbor? " 
Self-justification. It is the old Adam. It first made its 



APPLIED CHRISTIANITY. 267 

appearance in the garden of Eden. This man, ' ' willing to 
justify himself, ' ' willed exactly as the first man willed, to 
justify himself, as "he heard the voice of the Lord God 
walking in the garden in the cool of the day. (Gen. iii. 8. ) 
It is one of the wayside arguments for the unity of race. 
It tells of the origin of man, and the nature of sin. We 
feel it in our own sinful nature and wicked hearts.. We 
see it all around us and on every hand. Every man ' ' will- 
ing to justify himself. " It is the outworking of man's 
depraved nature. It is the wild growth of original sin. 
The question is raised by this lawyer as to what consti- 
tutes neighborhood. The question itself implies much. 
It indicates a troubled condition of mind, an anxious 
solicitude of heart. It is a partial confession of a con- 
sciousness that something is wrong, that somehow some 
duty is left undone ; while at the same time it intimates 
a readiness to do if he only knew when and where and 
how to do. "Who is my neighbor?" As though he 
would say I am ready to show mercy, but, to whom? I 
must know before I do lest my doing should be wrong. 
Difficulties lay in the way of this lawyer which need 
never lay in our way. Perplexities arose in his mind 
which need never arise in ours. The training of ages 
had taught him, and his people, that he and they owed 
no duty to man, woman, or child, outside of the Hebrew 
commonwealth. The very law which he knew so well 
had been used to teach him that no Gentile was his 
neighbor. The Hebrew statutory, criminal law would 
not put an Israelite to death for killing a Gentile, for he 
was not his neighbor. If a Hebrew saw a Gentile in 
danger of death he was under no obligation to save his 
life. Such statutes had been enacted from that covenant 
constitution given them by the Almighty. This rubbish 
Jesus had to clear away in laying the deep foundations 
for the gospel to the Gentiles. Jesus swept by these 



268 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

criminal statutes, trampled them under as he went along, 
and opened up the wonderful law of love as it lay in the 
heart of God and the covenant promises. 

But with us no less, or hardly less, than with this 
learned jurist there is a hazy indistinctness as to who is 
our neighbor. Our compound derivative from two 
Anglo-Saxon words, neah and gebtir, signifying near 
and to dwell, or one dwelling near, has led the masses 
of the people to feel that a neighbor is merely a contiguous 
settler whose farm or home joins ours, separated only by 
a division fence, the children of both families making 
common playgrounds of the woods and the meadows 
lying between, and belonging to each. We thus limit 
"neighborhood" to hamlet, village, or district, and 
the busy lives of our narrow surrounding constitutes 
our neighborhood. The word which our Saviour here 
chooses to define his meaning is one of a broader and 
deeper import and a wider and more comprehensive range. 
The Greek word is plasio?i, signifying the same in kind, 
having no reference to proximity of location except in a 
secondary sense. He makes it generic and applies it to 
the race. Humanity is the field of operation; distress, 
want, poverty, misfortune, pestilence, famine, and crime 
are the conditions calling for action. He who under- 
stands the deep and wide import of the word will bound 
the limit of his charity only by his ability to do. Village 
and city, state and country, and suffering humanity 
everywhere lay claim to our beneficence, and it is only 
(rod's providential dealing with us, as emergencies may 
arise, that can determine how great shall be our ability 
to do or where our liberality shall end. This is God's 
law of love to our neighbor. It demands that all the 
powers of our nature shall be brought into requisition 
in the fulfilment of our duty to him who made us and to 
those whom we call our fellows. 



APPLIED CHRISTIANITY. 269 

III. Humane nature is one, — one in its origin y essence, 
aims, and purposes. There is a base line of humanity 
from which all the wonderful surveys of its relative bear- 
ings and final courses must be taken. And the lesson 
when cast up will be that every part is like the whole, 
and every human heart is human. There is a similarity, 
a kinship, a brotherhood running through the race from 
its origin to its close. For God ' ' hath made of one blood 
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the 
earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, 
and the bounds of their habitation." (Acts xvii. 26.) 
Here is the revelation of the origin of man, and the 
argument for the unity of the human race. It is not in 
the similarity of skeletons and bones, nor the peculiar 
build of the spinal column. It is not to be sought in the 
vertebrae or tibia. The argument lies not in the curves 
of the back-bone, or the fluting of the shin-bone. But 
it does lie and is to be found in the ' ' one blood. ' ' For the 
stream of life in the whole human race is one and flows 
from one fountain. It was this human nature, with its 
life and the unity of that life in the ' ' one blood, ' ' that 
Jesus Christ assumed when he became man. His human 
nature consisted of " a true body and a reasonable soul. ' ' 
And so the human nature of the Son of God having its 
life in this ' ' one blood ' ' made it possible for that blood, 
when it flowed on the cross, to atone for the sins of the 
chosen people of God out of every kindred, and tongue, 
and nation in all times and through all ages. The base 
line of salvation lies in the "one blood." Without the 
shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin. 
(Hebrews ix. 22.) It was the blood of the nations 
which flowed on the cross, that some of all nations 
might be saved by the cross. It is that "one blood" 
which saves to the uttermost them that come unto God 
by Jesus Christ (Hebrews vii. 25), who poured out his 



270 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

life in that "one blood " when on the cross he bowed his 
head and gave up the ghost. (John xix. 30. ) For, ' ; God 
set him forth as his Son to be a propitiation through faith in 
his blood " for the remission of sins. (Romans iii. 25.) 
But in this unity there is a marked and wonder- 
ful diversity, physical, social, intellectual and moral, 
as marked as that of the various trees which make 
up the forest with its "deep contiguity of shade," or the 
flowers which adorn the earth with their rich fragrance, 
their delicious perfume, and diversified beauty. For 
God, who made man and appointed the earth as the 
habitation of the children of men, deals with man through 
his providence in time and space. The appointments of 
the divine mind are determined in his ordering of provi- 
dence. Nothing comes by chance. God has appointed 
the time of our coming into the world, the part we are 
to play, the little or much we are to do, the circum- 
stances by which we are surrounded, and the time of 
our departure. (Eccl. iii. 1, 2.) Our times are in his 
hands, to be lengthened or shortened, to be embittered 
or sweetened, as it may please him. His deter- 
minations are not rash, sudden, or equivocal. They 
correspond to an eternal purpose. They counterpart the 
divine decrees. God has harnessed man for the whole 
draft. Some are in the lead and some are at the wheel, 
for the mighty pull, that the secrets of eternity may be 
drawn to the light. Of the chosen ones there are some 
who stretch out their hands to God ; they stir themselves 
up to lay hold upon him ; they agonize for the dawn of 
that light. These are they who gather the graces of the 
Spirit for the joy of church, as the lofty peaks of the 
great mountains gather the snows and send down rivers 
Of waters to refresh the earth. There are others of the 
"many called" who, as the parable tell us, are "com- 
pelled to come in." But, alas! for them that are the 



APPLIED CHRISTIANITY. 27 1 

cast out. Still, — it all works together ! The lilies which 
grow, the young lions which are fed, the hairs which are 
numbered, and the sparrows which fall, are but the frac- 
tions in one vast and mighty sum to be worked out in 
time. There is no place in the everlasting covenant of 
God ' ' which is both ordered and sure, " (2 Sam. xxiii. 5.) 
for the wild disorder of the anarchist or the commune of 
the socialist. No place for the Utopian dreamer or the 
spiritual somnambulist. He who said, ' ' in the sweat of 
thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the 
ground ' ' (Gen. iii. 19), meant that word ' ' face ' ' to repre- 
sent the whole person, soul and body. It is intended to 
include all labor, manual, intellectual, and moral. "It 
means a sweat of the brow, and a sweat of the brain, and 
a sweat of the heart." The hewer of wood, and the 
drawer of water, is no less in his place than the man 
who measures the stars, or codifies the laws, or guides 
and trains the conscience. That sweat of the "face" 
mitigated the primeval curse, and stands as the seal of 
the covenant promise that our bread and our water are 
sure if there be sweat on the face, but not otherwise. 
Just as that other sweat in the garden of agony was to 
mitigate the curse on the soul, and stands as the seal of 
the other covenant promise that the soul shall have the 
bread and water of eternal life if it be found believing 
in Christ, but not otherwise. (Luke xxii. 44.) For the 
same God who said, ' ' He that believeth not the son shall 
not see life," (John iii. 36.) said also, "that if any would 
not work neither should he eat." (2 Thess. iii. 10.) 

As far back as the confusion of tongues, at the build- 
ing of Babel in the plains of Shinar, God outlined this 
physical, social, moral and intellectual distinction, ex- 
isting then, existing now, and to continue as long as 
there shall be a race of men on the face of the earth. 
Yet we find it is equally true touching the one great 



272 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

issue of redemption, salvation and eternal life; there is 
no difference, "for all have sinned and come short of 
the glory of God. ' ' (Romans iii. 9.) It is just here that 
God applies the unit rule. The Gentiles, who had not 
the law by revelation, had "the work of the law written 
in their hearts, their consciences bearing witness, and 
their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing 
one another. ' ' (Romans ii. 15.) Not because they were 
Gentiles, but because they were of that "one blood," 
and therefore belonged to that humanity, the secrets of 
which God shall judge by Jesus Christ according to the 
gospel. (Romans ii. 16.) 

IV. We must believe, then, that God's law of love is 
the inculcation, and the practical application, so far as 
our fellow-man is concerned, of universal equity. It 
has nothing to do with vocation, or grade, or rank in 
organized society. It draws no line between peasant 
and king, or monarch and vassal. The rich may some- 
times need it, and the pauper may stand at our gate 
begging for bread. It has nothing to do with the adjust- 
ing, or readjusting of the inequalities of life — social, civil, 
or political. It is not lodged in that sentimental phi- 
losophy which would level all men to the same social 
plane ; neither does it lift itself up into a frigid condition 
of normal justice merely. In obeying this law of love 
we must not be expected to conform our actions to the 
arbitrary demands of humanitarian schools of philan- 
thropy, or associations of men. But it does require us to 
render precisely the same equity to others, in given con- 
ditions, which it would be reasonable and equitable for 
us to expect from them if we should be placed in their 
circumstances and surrounded by similar conditions. 
We may very reasonably infer that it was to bring out 
these facts, touching the duties of the second table of 
the law, which induced our Saviour in predicating the 



APPLIED CHRISTIANITY. 273 

condition of this parable to select a Samaritan, whose 
social, civil, and political condition could never be so re- 
adjusted, under the Hebrew law, as to make him the 
neighbor of a Jew. And the man who was the recipient 
of that equitable charity, who had been sorely beaten 
and bruised by these merciless robbers, stripped of his 
raiment and left half dead, may or may not have been a 
man of rank and a Jew. Nothing is said of his social 
standing, his civil position, or his political predilections. 
The Samaritan made no inquiry about these, nor did he 
propose to change them or in any way interfere with 
them. It was suffering humanity that lay before him ; it 
was a fellow-man suffering, and it stirred his compassion ; 
it was one of the sons of humanity, and he ministered to 
his wants. He met the conditions in personally adminis- 
tering to the relief of the sufferer with his wine and oil, and 
used his pennies to foot the hotel bill. There is no proof 
and no argument to prove that this ' ' good Samaritan ' ' 
did anything more than comply, as opportunity offered, 
with the requirements of the second table of the moral 
law. For the argument all along this line was to de- 
velop and establish the unity of the race in the "one 
blood, ' ' and the consequent necessity for the exercise of 
the kindlier offices and the heart's compassion in times of 
suffering and distress ; and to show that this obligation 
was enforced by the authority of God and conduced to 
the relief of human need, and thereby promoted indi- 
vidual happiness. Along this line much has been done, 
and much will yet be done by unregenerate men for 
relieving the distress of the world. Hospitals, homes of 
charity, reforms of every kind, works of philanthropy, 
and compassion of pity and mercy, all go to establish 
the truth of the proposition. And so whatever may 
come from the kindlier feelings of unregenerate nature, 
iS 



274 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

is better than no response to the call for sympathy and 
help. Light is better than darkness, but all nature would 
lose her beauty, the earth would grow sick, and the 
world would die, if no other light fell upon the face of 
creation than the light which rules by night — the moon's 
pale light. It is the light of the morning, the splendid 
beams of the rising sun, which lights the world in glori- 
ous day. The one illustrates the charity of unconverted 
men, the other illustrates that charity which is done in 
the name of Christ by the believing child of God. 

It was precisely along this line of the second table of 
the law which pertains to our fellow-man that the rich 
young man had lived and acted, who, responding to our 
Saviour, said : ' ' All these things have I kept from my 
youth up : what lack I yet ? " A model specimen of a 
cultivated gentleman of the best and most refined society 
in the world. His great wealth, open heart, and sunny 
life had made him an object of personal admiration with 
all. His frankness, sincerity, and very nearness to the 
kingdom of God, drew out the love of Jesus Christ 
toward him. But there was one thing lacking, and be- 
cause he would not pass up to the requirements of the 
first table of that divine law of love he turned from the 
loving look of that compassionate Saviour and went away 
sorrowful. (Matt. xix. 20-22.) Could we but get a 
glance into the hearts of the very best of these unregene- 
rate benefactors of the race, and hear these hearts speak 
out in the frankness of their own conscious wants, there 
•would no doubt come from each of them the inquiry, 
"What lack I yet?" 

V. The whole duty of man can be performed only when 
the life and power of that law which underlies both tables 
shall enter into the heart and dwell there with complete 
control over all its thoughts and actions. When this 
takes place, and the graces of Christianity are planted 



APPLIED CHRISTIANITY. 275 

and rooted in the human heart by the Spirit of God, its 
capacity for doing good is enlarged in every direction, 
whether in human charity, personal benevolence, gen- 
eral philanthropy, or Christian privilege and duty. Man 
cannot be a lover of his race, as God would have him 
love that race, without first having the love of God shed 
abroad in his own heart. It is only when human charity 
proceeds from the heart in which Christ dwells that it 
becomes Christian charity. In that matchless delinea- 
tion of gifts as arranged by Paul (i Cor. xiii. , passim) of 
understanding, and knowledge, and charity, this one 
grace of God's love underlies and overlaps them all. 
Though one should give all his "goods to feed the 
poor, ' ' and hath not this divine love (agape) planted in 
his heart, ' ' it profiteth nothing. " It is deemed neces- 
sary just here to speak with emphasis of this fact, be- 
cause of the very strong disposition and tendency on the 
part of many to make the outworkings of the kindlier 
feelings of unregenerate nature answer both conditions 
of the law of love — duty to God and duty to man. Chris- 
tian charity can no more exist in the human heart with- 
out first coming from God than the love of God can exist 
in the heart without producing that charity. Christ was 
never in prison ; neither did you ever visit him, or feed, 
or clothe him ; yet when done to his people in need of 
them, the full conditions are met, and you have done 
these things to him. Herein lies the germinal idea of 
preaching the gospel at home and sending it to the utter- 
most parts of the earth. It is the love expanding, but 
not dividing ; widening, but not breaking. This law 
lies at the foundation of that comprehensive teaching of 
Paul (Romans xiv. 7) that "no man liveth to himself, 
and no man dieth to himself. ' ' The man who loves the 
Lord Jesus Christ obeys his commandments willingly 
and cheerfully. There is no such thing as physical com- 



276 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

pulsion in all the vast round and range of Christian life. 
The will is free to fall in with the eternal purpose of 
God, and the heart is responsive to every call. Applied 
Christianity may consist in giving vast or small sums of 
money, according as God has prospered us (1 Cor. xvi. 
2), for the support of the gospel at home and for the con- 
version of the world, or a cup of cold water to a thirsty 
beggar, or a crumb of bread to a hungry outcast, or the 
bread of life to the perishing soul. Christianity enlarges 
the heart so that it does not serve God with a spirit of 
resistance, or even of reluctance, for God makes his peo- 
ple willing in the day of his power. (Psalm ex. 3.) It 
makes a man seek out opportunities to do good, and run 
with alacrity to do it. At every turn of the road, in this 
' ' valley of tears, ' ' we can find some one who has fallen by 
the way, with many passing by on the other side, leaving 
the Samaritan's work for us to do ; or when, weary in our 
journey, we sit on the curbstone at the brink of the well, 
we may see many a poor outcast seeking to draw from 
the deep waters of earth, whom we might lead to fountains 
the streams whereof would bring gladness and joy. 

Some of the grand masters, who are worthy to be read 
and studied, have so systematized their great works that 
certain personages appear at given points, and many 
times in rapid succession, and then pass out and are 
seen no more. Their parts are performed, their work is 
done ; and yet they have given all the tone and charac- 
ter to the play. But God, in the grander unfolding of 
his eternal purposes through human instrumentality, 
has made this truth even more impressive. His mys- 
terious hand guides the footsteps of his people in ways 
they know not of; and by bringing the incidents of one 
man's life into the necessities of many others, is per- 
fecting that splendid fabric of glory which he is weaving 
for himself out of the lives of us all. 



THE THREE CAUSES OF SALVATION. 

BY REV. W. W. MOORE, D. D., 

Professor of Hebrew and Literature in Union Theological 

Seminary, Virginia. 



"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we 
should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." — James i. 18. 

THIS is one of the most comprehensive statements 
in the Bible. It outlines the whole scheme of re- 
demption. As the acorn contains the oak in 
embyro, so this text in its small compass contains the 
whole substance of divine revelation concerning the 
divine activity, method and purpose in the work of 
human redemption, not in full development, of course, 
but in germ. It tells us at once the source, and the 
means, and the purpose of our salvation from sin. It 
tells us the source of our salvation : "Of his own will 
begat he us." It tells us the means of our salvation: 
"With the word of truth." And it tells us the object 
of our salvation : ' ' That we should be a kind of first- 
fruits of his creatures." 

Philosophical writers are accustomed to distinguish 
three kinds of cause. They make a distinction between 
what they call the efficient cause, the instrumental cause, 
and the final cause of any effect. The distinction is a 
good one, and will be of value to us in the interpretation 
of this text. The efficient cause is the power that pro- 
duces the result, and without which the result cannot be 
produced. The instrumental cause is the means by 
which the power is applied. And the final cause is the 
object contemplated in producing the effect. 



278 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

For instance, in the locomotion of a train of cars, the 
efficient cause of the motion is steam, the instrumental 
cause is the engine with its appliances of cylinder, piston, 
driver, and other machinery for bringing the power to 
bear, and the final cause is the transportation of pas- 
sengers or produce. In writing a letter the efficient 
cause of the letter is the person who writes it, the instru- 
mental cause is the pen with which it is written, and the 
final cause is the object for which it is written, such as 
communication with a friend, or the transaction of busi- 
ness. In felling a tree the efficient cause of its fall is the 
woodman who chops it, the instrumental cause is the 
axe which cuts it, and the final cause is the purpose for 
which it is cut, fuel, or lumber, or what not. 

These three kinds of cause enter into the work of 
human redemption, and in the text before us we have a 
statement of what John Calvin has well called the effi- 
cient cause, the instrumental cause, and the final cause 
of our salvation. 

I. The efficient cause : "Of his own will begat he us. " 
The person referred to is God. The power that regen- 
erates a human soul is nothing less than divine power. 
And this power is exercised according to his sovereign 
pleasure, unmoved by any external cause. There are some 
who teach that man is the efficient cause of his own salva- 
tion. These misunderstand the Scriptures. The only effi- 
cient cause of salvation is God. This is shown conclu- 
sively by the terms used in the Bible to describe the con- 
dition of man before regeneration, as well as by the terms 
which are used to describe the process of regeneration 
itself. Hear this statement of the Apostle Paul in his 
epistle to the Ephesians : ' ' You hath he quickened, who 
were dead in trespasses and sin ; wherein in time past 
ye walked according to the course of this world, accord- 



THE THREE CAUSES OF SALVATION. 279 

ing to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that 
now worketh in the children of disobedience ; among 
whom also we all had our conversation in time past in 
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and 
of the mind ; and were by nature the children of wrath 
even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his 
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were 
dead in sins, Jiath quickened tis together with Christ (by 
grace ye are saved) : and hath raised us up together, and 
made us sit together in heavenly places in Jesus Christ : 
that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding 
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through 
Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith : 
and tliat not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God; not of 
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his work- 
manship, created in Christ fesus unto good works, which 
God liath before ordained that we should walk in them. ' ' 

Observe the force of these terms. "Dead in trespasses 
and sins." Can the dead work? Can a man effect his 
own salvation? It were as reasonable to suppose that 
one of these quiet sleepers in our silent city of the dead 
could, by his own inherent power, rise from the grave 
and resume his wonted activities among us as to suppose 
that a being who is dead in trespasses and sins can work 
out his own deliverance therefrom. And so the apostle 
writes to Titus : ' ' Not by works of righteousness which 
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, 
by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through 
Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by his 
grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of 
eternal life." Further, this great change is described by 
the apostle in the passage quoted from Ephesians as a 
creation; we are said to be "God's workmanship created 



28o SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

anew in Christ Jesus unto good works." The good 
works follow, they do not pereede, regeneration. It were 
as reasonable to suppose that a mere man could, by the 
word of his power, speak a universe into existence with 
its suns and systems and living creatures as to suppose 
that a sinner could be the efficient cause of his own sal- 
vation. The same truth is taught by our Saviour in his 
conversation with Nicodemus, where he says, " Except a 
man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
It is taught there even more emphatically than appears 
in the English Version, for, as the marginal reading 
shows, the original says, " Except a man be born from 
above he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John iii. 3.) 
And so the Apostle John, " As many as received him to 
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to 
them that believe on his name, who were born not of 
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God." The argument of the Apostle James in 
the passage before us proves the same thing. He is 
showing his readers that all the evil which afflicts us 
comes from our own depraved hearts, but all the good 
which we enjoy comes from God. "Let no man say 
when he is tempted, I am tempted of God : for God 
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any 
man; but every man is tempted when he is drawn 
away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust 
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin : and sin, when it is 
full grown, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my be- 
loved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift 
is from above, and cometh down from the Father of 
lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of 
turning. ' ' The crowning proof of it is that ' ' of his own 
will begat he us," unmoved by anything meritorious in 
man's character or conduct. (James i. 13-18.) This is 



THE THREE CAUSES OF SALVATION. 28 1 

a specially important statement as coming from the 
Apostle James, for lie has been supposed by some to 
teach the doctrine of salvation by works, in contradic- 
tion of the Apostle Paul, who teaches everywhere that 
a man is "justified by faith alone, without the deeds of 
the law." Even Martin Luther seems to have been 
under this impression at one time, and he spoke of the 
epistle of James as an epistle of straw. But there is no 
contradiction. It is simply the old story of the two 
knights who were approaching each other, and saw a 
shield suspended over the road. ' ' What a beautiful 
golden shield," said one. " It is not golden," said the 
other, " it is silver. ' ' The first knight insisted upon his 
view, the second continued to deny, and as they were 
about to pass from the clash of words to the clash of 
swords, a white-robed figure, whose name was Truth, 
rushed between them and required them to change 
places, and lo ! the shield was golden on the one side and 
silver on the other. So in regard to Paul and James. 
There is no real contradiction between them. The dif- 
ficulty is solved by understanding the point of view of 
each. Paul is right; we are justified by faith alone. 
James is right ; we are justified only by a working faith. 
But without pausing to dwell upon the manner of re- 
conciling the apparent difference, let us note that there is 
nowhere in Scripture, not even in the writings of Paul, 
a stronger statement of the absolute sovereignty and 
sole efficiency of God in salvation than is here made by 
the apostle who has been supposed by some to teach 
that a man is justified by his own good works. The 
efficient cause of salvation is God : "Of his own will 
begat he us." 

II . The instrumental cause : ' ' With the word of truth. ' ' 
It is not denied that God sometimes regenerates a soul 



282 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

without the intervention of means. But his rule, well- 
nigh universal, excepting, for instance, such cases as 
infants and idiots, is to use means. And the means that 
he uses is the word of truth. The Apostle Peter speaks 
of believers as "born again, not of corruptible seed, but 
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and 
abideth forever." The Apostle Paul reminds Timothy 
that ' ' from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, 
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through 
faith which is in Christ Jesus." And in the twenty- 
first verse of the chapter before us the Apostle James 
exhorts his readers to "receive with meekness the en- 
grafted word, which is able to save your souls." Some 
of the truths of this word which God uses as means of 
salvation are these : That the original condition of man as 
God created him was one of knowledge, righteousness, 
and holiness ; that man fell from the estate in which he 
was created by sinning against God; that all men are 
sinners, guilty, polluted, and helpless; "that God so 
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life" — facts, warnings, invitations, promises. 
But let us now note the relation between these two 
causes, the efficient and the instrumental. There is no 
intrinsic efficiency in the word for regeneration without 
the spirit. As a pen is powerless to write a letter, as 
an axe is powerless to fell a tree, unless there be an 
agent to wield it, as an engine cannot move cars with- 
out steam, so the word is powerless without the creative 
spirit of God. ' ' There are two conditions necessary for 
the production of a given effect. The one is that the 
cause should have the requisite efficiency ; and the other, 
that the object on which it acts should have the requisite 
susceptibility." The sun and rain shed their genial in- 



THE THREE CAUSES OF SALVATION. 283 

fluences on a desert, and it remains a desert ; when these 
influences fall on a fertile plain it is clothed with all the 
wonders of vegetable fertility and beauty. The mid-day 
brightness of the sun has no more effect on the eyes of 
the blind than a taper; and if the eye be bleared the 
clearest light only enables it to see men as trees walk- 
ing. It is so with moral truth : no matter what may be 
its inherent power, it fails of any salutary effect unless 
the mind to which it is presented be in a fit state to re- 
ceive it. The minds of men since the fall are not in a 
condition to receive the transforming and saving power 
of the truths of the Bible ; and therefore it is necessary, 
in order to render the word of God an effectual means of 
salvation, that it should be attended by the supernatural 
power of the Holy Spirit. The apostle says, expressly, 
' ' The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit 
of God ; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can 
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 
An eminent Presbyterian minister of New York city 
says that when he was a youth he attended a certain 
religious service and heard a sermon on the subject of 
regeneration, in which the preacher stated that conver- 
sion consisted of two things : first, a recognition of him- 
self as a sinner, and secondly, a recognition of Christ as 
a Saviour. The gentleman says he left the church with 
an unsatisfied feeling in his mind, and as he walked 
homeward, those words, learned in early boyhood, came 
back to him with great clearness and force of meaning : 
" Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, 
convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our 
minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, 
he doth persuade a?id enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, 
freely offered to us in the gospel." The preacher to 
whom he had been listening had omitted from his defini- 



284 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

tion the most vital point. Let us not refuse to accept 
the whole truth of the Bible concerning our helplessness 
as sinners and God's sole efficiency in our salvation, 
even though it expose us for a time to the underserved 
charge of teaching fatalism. 

Having now defined the efficient cause of our salva- 
tion, and the instrumental cause, let us look, lastly, at 
III. The fiyial cause: "That we should be a kind of 
firstfruits of his creatures." Under the old dispensa- 
tion, the firstfruits of the harvest and of the vintage, of 
the flocks and of the herds, and even the firstborn of 
their own families, were by the Hebrews given to God. 
On the day after the Passover Sabbath every year, a 
sheaf of the first ripe barley of that season's crop was 
waved by the priest before the Lord as an offering, and 
as an expression of gratitude, dependence and devotion, 
and by this consecration of the firstfruits the entire pro- 
duce was consecrated. In like manner they did with the 
first loaves made from the new grain fifty days later at 
the feast of Pentecost, and so of the best wine and the 
best oil. The firstlings of their flocks and herds also 
were given to God as victims for sacrifice. In accord- 
ance with the same principle, and in special commemora- 
tion of the mercy of God in sparing their households 
when he inflicted the tenth plague upon the Egyptians, 
the firstborn son of every Israelitish family was devoted 
to God as a minister of the sanctuary. The Lord after- 
wards substituted the Levites for the firstborn in the 
service of the tabernacle, in order, no doubt, to the more 
orderly conduct of public worship ; and the overplus of 
firstborn sons for whom there were no Levites to substi- 
tute had to be redeemed from the service of the sanc- 
tuary by the payment of five shekels apiece into the 
tabernacle treasury. The great idea, then, connected 



THE THREE CAUSES OF SALVATION. 285 

with the firstfruits was that of consecration, absolute 
devotion to the service of God, and when James says 
that ' ' of his own will begat he us with the word of 
truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his 
creatures," he meant the same thing, to-wit, that the 
object of our salvation is consecration to the service of 
God, and that our regeneration is a pledge of the ulti- 
mate regeneration of the world at large. 

For what purpose, then, are sinners saved? That they 
may finally escape the punishment due them for their 
sins? Yes, but that is secondary. That they may finally 
attain to the happiness of heaven? Yes, but that is sec- 
ondary. The primary object of our salvation is conse- 
cration to God's service. I once heard the late Bishop 
Kavanaugh, of the Methodist Church, say that he had 
always greatly admired the first question and answer of 
The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly: 
1 ' What is the chief end of man ? " " Man's chief end is 
to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever. ' ' And truly 
they are among the noblest uninspired words ever writ- 
ten. Some forty years ago there was an infidel editor 
in this country, who used to make shallow sport of this 
great statement ; but it is the worthiest answer ever yet 
given to that momentous question. What, then, is the 
chief end of a sinner's salvation? To glorify God by a 
life of whole-hearted consecration to his service. 

It is said that when Oliver Cromwell visited York- 
minster, in England, he saw in one of the apartments 
statues of the twelve apostles in silver. ' ' Who are those 
fellows there ? " he inquired, in his brusque way, as he 
approached them. On being informed, he replied: 
"Take them down, and let them go about doing good." 
They were taken down, and melted, and coined into 
money, and went about the commonwealth doing good 



2 86 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

as money. It has been well asked, "Are there not some 
Christians who occupy places in God's house more for 
show than for service? Stately, formal, disinclined to 
work for God, though doubtless his own children, sin- 
ners go unsaved, and believers go uncomforted and un- 
helped, for all the effort they make to aid them. They 
need to be melted down and sent about doing good. 
Statuary Christians, however burnished and elegant 
they may be, are of little real service in the cause of 
Christ. ' ' They have misapprehended the final cause of 
their salvation. They seem to have forgotten the second 
part of that great statement in the second chapter of 
Titus, where we are told that Jesus Christ "gave him- 
self for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, 
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
good works." 

My brethren, let us bear these things in mind. It is 
well for us to remember by whom we are saved, and by 
what we are saved, and for what we are saved. It is 
well for us to recognize in our salvation the power of 
God as the source, and the word of God as the means, 
and the glory of God as the end ; for " of his own will 
begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a 
kind of firstfruits of his creatures. ' ' 



THE NECESSITY OF CHRIST'S 
RESURRECTION. 

BY REV. J. F. CANNON, D. D., 
Pastor of the Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Mo. 



"Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death ; 
because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." — 
Acts ii. 24. 

THE disciples of Jesus Christ had no expectation 
that he would rise from the dead. The sepulchre 
in which his dead body was entombed had closed 
upon their hopes. Those loving women who visited 
the sepulchre on the morning of the first day of the week 
went with their spices to embalm a dead body, not to 
meet a living one. The" two who journeyed together to 
Emmaus said, "We trusted that it had been he which 
should have redeemed Israel. " (Luke xxiv. 21.) Such 
had been their hope, but it had been turned into despair. 
Without exception they were incredulous when the glad 
news of the resurrection was first announced to them. 
The words of the messengers ' ' seemed to them as idle 
tales, and they believed them not." (Luke xxiv. 11.) 
The idea of the resurrection was strange to them, and 
even alarming. Slowly, jealously, almost reluctantly, 
they yielded to the evidence. But when the fact was 
accepted it became the chief inspiration of their lives. 
It was the corner-stone of their faith. Their supreme 
business, henceforth, was to proclaim, and bear witness 
to it. 

Peter was here preaching on the day of Pentecost to 
287 



288 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

an excited and astonished multitude in Jerusalem. The 
subject of his sermon was a crucified and risen Messiah. 
He reminded his hearers of the spotless character of 
Jesus of Nazareth, and of the pure, benevolent life which 
he had lived among them. He boldly charged them 
with the crime of having, wantonly and with wicked 
hands, taken his life. Then he affirmed that this Jesus 
had been raised from the dead : ' ' This Jesus hath God 
raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. ' ' (Vs. 32.) He, 
and more than five hundred others whom he could sum- 
mon, were ready to testify to the fact, and seal then- 
testimony with their blood. It is significant that none 
who heard him ventured to impugn the testimony. The 
Sanhedrin were doing their utmost to crush this new 
movement in its inception, yet they did not undertake 
to refute the assertion that Christ had risen. The fact 
of his resurrection was proclaimed loudly and persistently 
in the very midst of Jerusalem itself; yet there is abso- 
lutely no co temporary denial of it, except the clumsy 
story which the sentinels at the tomb were bribed to tell, 
that while they slept the disciples came and stole away 
the body. Had there been any more valid rebutting 
evidence within their reach, we may be sure these busy 
enemies of the gospel would have gathered and made 
use of it. But so far as history shows there was not a 
man of them who dared to take issue with the apostles as 
to the great fact which they alleged. 

But Peter was not content to rest the resurrection of 
Christ upon the testimony of human witnesses, conclu- 
sive and overwhelming as that was. He had learned 
something from the example of the Master himself. 
When Christ showed himself alive to his disciples after 
his passion he was not content to show them his wounded 
hands and side ; to speak to them by name in his old 



THE NECESSITY OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. 289 

familiar tones, and, by such means, to relieve their 
doubts and establish their faith. He wished to have their 
faith founded, not simply on the testimony of their bodily 
senses, but on that which is the only proper foundation 
of religious faith, the word of God. Hence, ' ' beginning 
at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them 
in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." 
(Luke xxiv. 27.) He showed them how, in order 
that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, it behooved the 
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third 
day. Peter followed this example. Choosing a pas- 
sage from the Old Testament Scriptures, he showed his 
hearers that its only possible fulfilment was in the resur- 
rection of the Messiah. David had prophesied in one of 
his psalms, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades, 
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corrup- 
tion." This word, in its full meaning, could not have 
been spoken of the psalmist himself, for it was not ful- 
filled in his experience. His body did see corruption. 
The sepulchre containing his dust was still among them. 
But it was fulfilled, literally and completely, in the ex- 
perience of Jesus of Nazareth, who was the son of 
David according to the flesh, and his promised successor 
on the throne. His body was not allowed to see cor- 
ruption, as his empty sepulchre conclusively proved. 

In like manner, as the same apostle teaches in one of 
his epistles, the Holy Spirit, through all the prophets, 
had ' ' testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and 
the glory that should follow." (1 Peter i. 11.) Through 
a multitude of prophecies and types the great event was 
foreshadowed. Deny the resurrection of Christ, and the 
Old Testament is a sealed book. Admit it, and every 
page becomes luminous with meaning. What the head 
is to the body, what the flower is to the plant, or the 
19 



290 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

fruit to the tree, such is the fact of the resurrection to the 
body of revealed truth. It is the crown and consumma- 
tion of all God's revelations to men. He who "died for 
our sins according to the Scriptures," as Paul says, 
"rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.'''' 
(1 Cor. xv. 4.) It was not possible, then, that he should 
be holden of death, because "the Scripture cannot be 
broken." 

But in the words of our text the apostle seems to 
take a bolder position still, viz., that, from the very na- 
ture of the case, the resurrection of Christ was i?ievitable 
and 7iecessary. Not only was there abundant historical 
proof that he had risen, and numerous scriptural predic- 
tions that he would rise, but, in view of the circum- 
stances of the case, and on account of the principles in- 
volved, there was an absolute necessity that he should 
rise. ' ' It was not possible that he should be holden of 
it. " That such an one as he was should be held under 
the power of death was a simple impossibility. 

First, there was a moral impossibility in the case. To 
appreciate this, consider what manner of man he was. 
Peter here speaks of him as " a man approved of God ' ' ; 
that is, he was divinely attested and sealed as one com- 
missioned of God. Not only so, he was one upon whom 
the eye of God rested with unqualified approval. ' ' He 
knew no sin." He distinctly claimed that he had no 
consciousness of sin. He said, "I do always those 
things that please the Father " ; " the prince of this 
world cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John xiv. 30.) 
To his enemies he said, "Which of you convinceth me 
of sin?" (John viii. 46.) And his whole life was con- 
sistent with this high claim. No wrong was ever dis- 
covered in him, either by the intimacy of his friends or 
the malignity of his foes. The judge who condemned 



THE NECESSITY OF CHRIST S RESURRECTION. 291 

him said, "I find no fault in him." The apostate who 
betrayed him confessed, ' ' I have betrayed the innocent 
blood." The centurion who superintended his execu- 
tion said, "Certainly this was a righteous man." (Luke 
xxiii. 47.) Nor has the searching scrutiny of later 
times discovered aught to change this verdict. So far as 
I know, the man has yet to be found who, after a careful 
study of the facts of his life, has dared to stand up before 
an intelligent public and charge Jesus Christ with any 
moral obliquity. By common consent he is acknow- 
ledged to have been a man without sin. He was ' ' holy, 
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Yet, 
upon the testimony of suborned witnesses, he was con- 
demned and crucified as a malefactor. For the first time 
since the world began was an innocent, sinless man 
brought under the power of death. Never before had 
death taken such prey in his toils. Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, David, and Daniel died, and their bodies saw 
corruption. But they were sinners, all of them, and 
hence the legitimate prey of death; for "the wages of 
sin is death." Here, however, was one who had done 
no sin ; in whom nothing worthy of death was found by 
God or men. Was it possible for death to hold such an 
one? Not if righteousness reigns. If death may reign 
where sin has not reigned ; if death may invade the 
realm of innocence and claim as his own one who belongs 
to that realm, then the cause of God and righteousness is 
a losing cause. If there be a just and almighty God 
upon the throne of the universe, and if Jesus Christ were 
such an one as he is here represented, and as he is gene- 
rally acknowledged to have been, then there was a divine 
necessity that he should rise. We do not forget the uni- 
formity and inviolability of natural law, but we remem- 
ber likewise the awful supremacy of moral law. We 



292 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

admit that the forces of nature are mighty ; but we insist 
that the forces of righteousness are mightier. These are 
the forces which were appealed to, and which fought for 
his deliverance. What boots it to say that the alleged 
event was exceptional, a revolt from the established 
order of things, and therefore incredible ? Our answer 
is, the man was exceptional. Never was there another 
like him among the sons of men. Find another man 
who is "without sin " ; let him be "crucified, dead, and 
buried, ' ' and we promise you another resurrection ; for, 
if might be on the side of right in God's universe, it is 
not possible for a righteous man to be holden of death. 

Again, there was not only a moral necessity that 
Christ should rise, there was also a natural necessity in 
the case, a necessity "planted in the nature of things." 
To appreciate this we must remember that he claimed 
to be something more than a sinless man. He claimed 
to be, and was proven to be, in a sense peculiar to him- 
self, the Son of God, ' ' his only begotten Son, ' ' possessed 
of a divine nature and a divine life. Simon Peter had 
been led to know and acknowledge him in this charac- 
ter. In response to the question, "Whom say ye that I 
am?" he had made the noble and accepted answer, 
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
(Matt. xvi. 1 6.) 

The charge preferred against him before the Jewish 
high priest was that he called himself the Son of God, 
thus making himself God. And when the high priest 
adjured him to tell them if he was the Christ, the Son 
of God, he gave an affirmative answer. Upon that they 
adjudged him worthy of death, because he had spoken 
blasphemy. (Matt. xxvi. 63-66.) It was a stupendous 
claim for one in the form of man, but every part of his 
life was in harmony with the claim. It was a divine 



THE NECESSITY OF CHRIST S RESURRECTION. 293 

life. He showed a wisdom which was more than hu- 
man. "Never man spake like this man," was the 
testimony of his cotemporaries, and is the confession of 
the thinking world to-day. He exercised a compassion 
and love which were divine. His purity was divinely 
stainless. He wielded a power which was the power 
of God. The winds and the waves obeyed him ; devils, 
and death itself, were subject to his word. If he was 
not divine, pray tell us wherein he lacked of being 
divine? What attribute of God did he fail to exhibit? 

Such being his nature, and his relation to God the 
Father, his life was not the created, dependent life of a 
creature. He says, "As the Father hath life in himself, 
so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." 
(John v. 26.) "In him was life; and the life was the 
light of men." (John i. 4.) Again, he says, "I am 
the resurrection, and the life." (John xi. 25.) "lam 
the way, the truth, and the life." (John xiv. 6.) He 
is the Prince of life ; the author, the source of life ; as 
Schaff says, the "life of every life." 

Now, remembering all this, let us go to the tomb of 
Joseph of Arimathea, and what do we see? The eternal 
Son of God, the Prince of life, held in the embrace of 
death ! That he should have condescended to that con- 
dition is the marvelous mystery of grace ; that he should 
be kept in it is an impossible thought. Death must 
yield his mighty prey. A grain of sand may be held 
passive and submissive in the bosom of the earth ; but 
not so a living grain of wheat. It must and will spring 
up in a new and higher life. In the city of Hanover, 
Germany, there is said to be an old graveyard in which 
is the tomb of a woman who belonged to an ancient 
and noble family. It is covered with massive blocks 
of stone, which are fastened together with heavy iron 



294 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

clamps. On one of the stones these words are carved : 
' ' This grave, bought for all time, must never be opened. ' ' 
But years ago a little seed found lodgment in the crevice 
between the stones. It took root and grew, until now 
a splendid tree waves its branches over the tomb. And 
as the roots have grown, and the trunk enlarged, heed- 
less of the carved admonition, the great stones have 
been lifted, and the iron clamps broken asunder. Such 
is the power of life, even of the created life that is 
wrapped up in a little seed. What wonder, then, that 
he who had ' ' life in himself, ' ' who was ' ' the resurrec- 
tion, and the life," should burst the bands of death, and 
triumph over the grave? Men rolled a stone to the door 
of the sepulchre, and sealed it, and set armed sentinels 
to guard it. But how vain their efforts were ! As well 
might they have tried to seal up the morning in the 
womb of night, and prevent its dawn ; or to lock up the 
spring in the embrace of winter, and forbid the flowers 
to bloom and the trees to bud. It was not possible for 
him to be holden of death. 

Then, my brethren, "we have not followed cun- 
ningly-devised fables ' ' when we have built our hopes 
on him "who was delivered for our offences, and was 
raised again for our justification. " " The Lord is risen 
indeed." His resurrection is not a myth, but a fact. 
A fact attested as no other fact in ancient history has 
been attested. A fact foreshadowed by numerous pro- 
phecies and types in the Old Testament Scriptures. A 
fact to be expected as the inevitable and necessary out- 
come of the eternal principles which were involved. Let 
us be glad and rejoice in it. It tells us of an accepted 
sacrifice, a completed redemption, a purchased inheri- 
tance of life and glory. It is the pledge of our own 
resurrection. The risen Christ is the firstfruits of them 



THE NECESSITY OF CHRIST S RESURRECTION. 295 

that sleep. "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus 
from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from 
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his 
Spirit that dwelleth in you. " (Romans viii. n.) 

Yes, if his Spirit dwell in us, the text becomes true of 
us, as of him. It is not possible for death to hold us. 
We must rise. " Blessed be the God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy 
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance 
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." 
(1 Peter i. 3, 4.) 



NATURAL LAW AND DIVINE PROVI- 
DENCE. 

BY REV. PEYTON H. HOGE, D D., 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, N. C. 



"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them 
shall not fall on the ground without your Father." — Matthew 
x. 29. 

TWO theories of the universe contend for the mastery 
in the world to-day, the mechanical and the 
paternal. 
Modern science has demonstrated by an ever- widening 
induction the universal reign of law. The silent move- 
ments of the heavenly host ; the revolutions of the earth 
as it turns on its axis or swings in its orbit round the 
sun, causing the alternations of day and night and the 
ever-changing panorama of the seasons ; the rise and fall 
of the tides, the shifting of the fickle wind, the circula- 
tion of moisture as it ascends in vapor, condenses in 
cloud, descends in rain, and flows in rill and torrent and 
river back to ocean again ; the springing of the germ in 
the earth, the growth of blade and flower and fruit, till 
the earth is clothed with beauty, and waving harvests 
and ripening fruit provide food for man and beast ; all 
have been shown to come under the operation and do- 
minion of regular and unchanging laws, inexorably 
working out fixed results. Every element has its fixed 
laws of combination with every other element; every 
force its regular play of action upon every other force ; 
296 



NATURAL LAW AND DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 297 

every form of life its changeless conditions for develop- 
ment, retrogression or destruction ; even sentient beings 
have their prescribed modes of action ; the flight of the 
lark, the song of the nightingale, the roar of the lion, 
the spring of the tiger, are as much in obedience to law 
as the fall of an apple or the flash of a thunderbolt. Man 
himself is born, grows, labors and dies, the subject of 
natural law. The very configuration of the earth we in- 
habit is the result of the operation of law. Law-abiding 
waters sifted its elements and built up its rock-ribbed 
frame. Law-abiding earthquakes heaved up the solid 
mass of the mountains ; and waters descending in obedi- 
ence to law carved them into hills and valleys. 

From these known facts of science, men have leaped 
to the conclusion that this mighty mechanism of nature 
is only a machine; that whether originally caused by 
some being who has left it to work out its own results, 
or whether itself uncaused, and evolving all its laws out 
of its own inherent forces, it is now a mere machine, 
blind to results and regardless of consequences. 

Such a universe must he purposeless. If there is no 
intelligence there can be no will. The sun shines be- 
cause it must, and not to clothe a world with beauty or 
to ripen the harvests for the food of man. The rains 
descend from necessity, and not to water the earth that 
it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. 
The rivers flow because water runs downhill, and not to 
fill the valleys with corn, and to girdle the hills with 
joy. 

Such a universe must be heartless. It is nothing to 
the mill whether it grinds the corn to feed the hungry, 
or whether it mangles the limbs of a helpless child. So 
nature is as indifferent to the sorrows of her children as 
to their joys. The wind cares not whether it sinks the 



298 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

laden ships or wafts them to their desired haven. The 
sea will sport with a child upon the beach, and then en- 
gulf it in its treacherous embrace. 

Such a universe must be conscienceless. It has no 
concern for the righteous or the wicked. It may pour 
its plenty into the lap of the wicked, and heap its sorrows 
upon the head of the righteous ; and there is no court of 
appeals where wrongs can be righted, sin punished and 
virtue rewarded. 

In such a universe worship is an absurdity, prayer a 
mockery and religion a delusion. Let us eat and drink, 
for to-morrow we die. 

Over against this mechanical, soulless theory of the 
universe we place the paternal theory as it is found in 
the words of the text and in all the teachings of our 
Lord. Not that he announced it as a theory. Nothing was 
theory in his teachings. A theory is a supposition that 
gives a reasonable explanation of known facts ; but with 
him the explanation is announced as known as clearly 
as the facts. He taught as one having authority. "We 
speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen." 
But to the world, before it accepts the teachings and au- 
thority of Christ, his revelation of the Father, and the 
Father's care for his children must be considered as one 
of the theories on which we seek to account for the facts 
of the universe. 

According, then, to the teachings of Jesus Christ, God, 
the Creator of heaven and earth, exercises a fatherly 
care over all his creatures. He singles out one of the 
least by way of example. Their little bodies could be 
seen any day hanging in the market in long strings. 
A trifling copper coin could purchase two of them for 
a meagre meal. Yet, says our Lord, no winter's blast 
is keen enough, no bird of prey is swift enough, no 



NATURAL LAW AND DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 299 

archer's aim is sure enough, no fowler's snare is cun- 
ning enough to bring to the ground one of the least of 
these creatures until God's time has come to still the 
beatings of the little fluttering heart, and fold forever 
the wings that bore it in happy flight. They have 
neither store-house nor barn, they sow not, neither do 
they reap; yet the Father feedeth them. It is he who 
clothes the very grass of the field with fabrics of 
richer lustre than the royal robes of Solomon, in all their 
glory of Tyrian dye and gold of Ophir. All of beauty, 
all of sustenance, all of protecting care our heavenly 
Father gives to the earth and its creatures. Then what 
of his children? "Are ye not much better than they?" 
"Fear not," says the Master to them, "ye are of more 
value than many sparrows." So tender is the Father's 
care of them that the very hairs of their head are all 
numbered. 

This theory of a divine providence, universal and spe- 
cial, wide as creation and particular as the hairs of our 
heads, governing the stars in their courses, and the 
sparrows in their flight and fall, is what we all as Chris- 
tians profess to believe. And yet there are few of us, 
perhaps, who have not sometimes been troubled as to 
just how to reconcile such a providence with the known 
facts of natural law. What place is there for providence, 
faith, and prayer, in a universe governed by unchanging 
and inexorable law ? 

In answer to this question, I would suggest, first, that 
if this universe is a machine, it is a machine of God's 
planning. Science has nothing to say against that. 
When men make a machine they make it to do a certain 
work, but it may do other things for which it was never 
intended. We make a locomotive to pull our trains ; it 
may crush the life out of its own maker. But God's 



300 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

planning is complete and perfect. ' ' Known unto God 
are all his works, from the beginning of the world." 
In planning his universe, the least as well as the greatest 
events enter into his plan, and often the greatest events 
turn upon those that seem the most trivial. God is too 
great for anything to appear insignificant in his eyes, 
and if the sparrow cannot fall to the ground without 
your Father, it is because the sparrow, with all the 
forces and circumstances that govern its life, is a part 
of God's great plan. 

Some of you have seen at the World's Fair, or other 
recent expositions, those beautiful machines for weaving 
pictures in silk. If you examined them closely you 
must have noticed that folds of stiff paper, perforated 
with many holes, were regularly fed to the machine 
from above. That was the pattern. The position of 
those holes governed the shifting threads of the warp 
and directed the motions of the many-colored shut- 
tles as they flew in and out. A defect in the pattern, 
or a failure in any part of the machine to respond to the 
pattern, would have marred the perfect picture. So God 
has ordained all causes as well as all effects, and we 
need not fear even to pray to our Father according to his 
word, for if he has made this universe to run by prayer, 
the prayer is as essential to the working out of his plan 
as the force of gravitation to the movements of the 
spheres. 

But if we look only at this aspect of the subject, we 
may fall into a fatalistic conception of God and his uni- 
verse. Our prayers, if we pray, may become perfunc- 
tory and formal, and we will not pray and trust as those 
who are coming to the sympathetic heart of a living Fa- 
ther. Let us remember, then, that God's universe is 
not a machine which he has planned and wound up, and 



NATURAL LAW AND DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 3OI 

then withdrawn himself from all interest in its working. 
We must picture him as rejoicing in the work of his 
hands ; as watching with sympathetic interest and pleas- 
ure the development of all his plans. If, in the working 
out of his gracious purposes, his creatures, or, yet more, 
his children, suffer, his heart is responsive to their cry, 
even while he is too wise and too really tender to turn aside 
from the beneficent ends that he has in view; and 
when he sends deliverance, it is just as truly he that 
sends it, and it comes as fresh from his fatherly heart, 
as if both the sorrow and the respite had not been a part 
of his purpose from before the foundation of the world. 
Thus tenderly he loves the sparrows, thus tenderly he 
marks their fall. Are ye not much better than they? 

But God's present relation to his universe is not con- 
fined to his loving and sympathetic interest in the de- 
velopment of his purposes. I do not believe that science 
has reached the ultimate source of power when it has 
discovered a law of nature. There is no inherent power 
in a natural law. It is only an observed order of action. 
In itself it explains nothing. Take, for instance, one of 
the most universal of all these laws, the law of gravita- 
tion. We know that if we let go an object from our 
hands it will fall to the earth. We know that the same 
force swings the earth in its orbit round the sun, and 
binds together all systems by invisible chains. But why 
has matter this attraction for other matter? Who can 
tell? One of the most brilliant of American astronomers 
has said that the more he has studied it the more has he 
come to the conclusion that the only explanation which 
can be given is just that God wills it so. To this source 
at last we must trace all energy. Natural laws are but 
the modes in which God's power expresses itself. Hence, 
all energy and life in the universe are but manifestations 



302 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

of the life and power of the living God. He upholds all 
things by the word of his power. In him we live, and 
move, and have our being. He is the God in whose 
hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways. If for 
one moment he withdrew the sustaining power of his 
will, all things would return to chaos, or vanish into 
nothingness. But he is faithful to his creatures. Seed- 
time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and 
winter, shall not fail. Thus, it is God that feeds the 
ravens and clothes the lilies. And we, too, may come 
with trusting hearts and pray, "Give us this day our 
daily bread." 

And is this all? Is God's providence confined to the 
sustaining of natural laws and his sympathetic interest 
in the working out of his eternal purpose ? Those who 
argue thus strangely forget the domain of the action of 
the human will. All things in the world are not the un- 
aided and unmodified result of natural law. Whatever 
is true of other beings, men are endowed with the power 
of interference. Man can play law against law, so as to 
bring out results just the opposite of unaided natural law. 
It is the nature of water to run downhill. Man confines 
it, and makes that very law force it upward into his 
dwellings. Gravity draws objects to the earth. But 
by that very law man lifts himself to the clouds by at- 
taching himself to a bag inflated with some gas lighter 
than the surrounding air. Whether or not Elisha by a 
miracle made the iron to swim in ancient days, men, 
without any miracle, are in these days sailing the seas 
in iron ships, and fighting each other with massive can- 
non from floating fortresses. Every product of art and 
manufacture, every achievement of invention and dis- 
covery, is the interference of human will with the natu- 
ral working of nature's laws. Even the harvests that 



NATURAL LAW AND DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 303 

spring from earth's bosom are the cultivation of man, 
and the breeds of cattle that walk the earth are improved 
by art and man's device. Even where the naked savage 
roams the forest, we can trace him by his handiwork. 
Life, the supreme gift of nature, may be destroyed by 
his wrath, or prolonged by his skill and care. He may 
strike down the sparrow on his nest, or his fellow-man 
in his bed ; or he may drive away the destroyer from his 
victim ; or his own heart may relent when his hand is 
raised for the blow. 

This wide sphere of freedom is left to man, as our own 
observation and experience teach us. And has the crea- 
ture a power the exercise of which is denied to the Crea- 
tor? Let us see. 

Of the action of the divine will upon the human will 
science is silent. Whatever takes place in that realm is 
back of human consciousness, and so does not offer itself 
to investigation. But for that very reason science op- 
poses no objection to the revelations of Scripture. "The 
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; as the rivers of 
water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. " " It is God 
that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good 
pleasure." We cannot open the door to the action of 
the human soul upon the material universe without at 
the same time opening the door to the action of the di- 
vine Spirit through its influence upon the human soul. 
And when we consider the almost infinite possibilities 
for our weal or woe that are lodged in the hands of our 
fellow-men, and how at every turn our life may be 
blessed or blasted by their actions, it is no small part of 
the comfort of our faith in divine Providence that he holds 
the hearts of men in the hollow of his hand, and guides, 
directs, suggests, controls their thoughts and words and 
actions, to bring about his purposes of grace to the 



304 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

meanest of his creatures and to the least of his children. 
If he stays the hand or mars the aim that seeks the spar- 
row's life ; if he sends the hand that scatters seed or 
crumbs when winter's snows have covered the ground, 
need we fear for protection and sustenance ? We are of 
more value than many sparrows. 

But if man, without violating nature's laws, can inter- 
fere with and modify their actions, what shall we say of 
those more highly-endowed beings whose existence is 
revealed to us in the Scriptures ? ' ' Are they not all 
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who 
shall be heirs of salvation?" So the Scriptures teach, 
but what has science to say? Nothing, except this, that 
it finds no trace of their action. Is that conclusive 
against their agency and ministry? Not at all. The 
beast that treads the earth leaves his footprints behind 
by which we can trace his path. But who can follow the 
track of the fish that parts the mobile waters, or the bird 
that cleaves the yielding air ? We see the marks of the 
tool upon the stone rough-hewn from the quarry, but 
not upon the polished slab or the finished statue. It is 
the perfection of the work that obliterates the traces of 
the workman. So this angel ministry may be all about 
us, guiding and controlling the forces of nature, and yet 
their footfalls make no sound and leave no trace, and the 
marks of their handiwork remain, like themselves, un- 
seen. However that may be, it is surely preposterous to 
say that God may not thus work through nature's laws, 
albeit with an unseen hand. We watch the musician as 
his fingers pass over the keys of the organ, and we under- 
stand why the key goes down and the note sounds, be- 
cause we see the touch of his finger. But couple the 
lower to the upper bank of keys, and when he plays on 
the lower the corresponding keys of the upper bank go 



NATURAL LAW AND DIVINE PROVIDENCE . 305 

down as though touched by unseen fingers. And it 
would be easy to connect both kej^-boards with another 
key-board out of sight, played by an unseen musician, 
while the visible keys responded to the touch of an in- 
visible hand. Such a mechanism would seem to the un- 
initiated to be automatic. So with God's interference in 
nature. Nature's laws are but the keys and levers that 
connect his will with the results achieved. We hear the 
sound, we even see the movements of the keys and 
levers, but we see not the hand; yet God's controlling 
hand is on every key, and at his touch the great organ 
sings and throbs with the eternal harmonies of his will. 

It is idle to say that the facts of nature are sufficiently 
accounted for without supposing the immediate action of 
God. The sphere of our ignorance is still too vast for us 
to say there is no need for God's intervention. When 
the Son of God was on earth the winds and the waves 
obeyed him, and at his word or touch disease fled away. 
In the wide demain of the elements in their ceaseless 
play, in the recondite laws of life and health and their 
constant warfare against disease and danger, we never 
know when the modifying touch of the divine hand pro- 
duces results that nature unaided could never have 
achieved. God is still the Lord of nature. He is still 
the great Physician. And not a sparrow falleth to the 
ground without your Father. 

This world, then, is still our Father's house. The 
universe is still subject to our Father's will. It is a 
universe, then, with a heart in it, and it is no idle thing 
for us to draw near to God in spirit, and say, "Our 
Father which art in heaven." Prayer is not a mere 
spiritual exercise. It reaches the heart of God, and 
sways the hand that rules the universe. 

This is, likewise, a place for righteousness. ' ' Say ye to 
20 



306 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the righteous, It shall be well with him, " is a living voice 
to-day. ' ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness " is no obsolete command, and it is no meaning- 
less promise that ' ' all these things ' ' — food, clothing, pro- 
tection — "shall be added unto you." A life of trust is 
still the true and only life for happiness and peace, since 
it is our Father that is making "all things work to- 
gether for good to them that love him." 

And in this, our Father's house, there is a place for 
pardon, for redemption, for salvation. The birds, which 
know only his providential care, may sing in uncon- 
scious innocence a Father's praise. But we, his chil- 
dren, may sing a new and nobler song, a song of pardon- 
ing, redeeming love: "For God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever belie veth 
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 



TAKE HOLD OF GOD. 

BY REV. JAMES I VANCE, D. D., 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tenn. 



"Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace 
with me." — Isaiah xxvii. 5. 

GOD is the speaker, and he sends us a call through 
this verse of Scripture. He wants us to come up 
to his side and touch him. We have been stand- 
ing off, standing aloof, with a great stretch of territory 
between us and God. We have been finding fault with 
the Almighty. He fails to manage the universe to 
suit us. As a coterie of self-elected critics we have been 
standing away off there, harping ceaselessly the dismal 
clamor of our complaints. God says : ' ' Come up closer, 
and you can see better. Stand beside me, and you will get 
a new perspective. Touch me, and your querulous com- 
plaints will change into peace. " " Let him take hold of 
my strength, that he may make peace with me." 

We spend so much of our time on trifles. Suppose 
you work out a little sum in arithmetic. Take the past 
week and tell us how you spent it. One-third of it went 
into sleep. Of the remainder, how much was spent in 
idle conversation that left no more behind it than the 
wind that whistles past you on the street? How much 
was spent in amusement, in the arduous effort to make 
leisure that would otherwise be insufferably tame pass 
with some degree of delight? How much was spent in 
that which is purely material ? How much was spent in 
307 



308 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

eating and drinking and reading? How much of the 
past week did you devote to that which will live on after 
your seventy years are out and bring something at the 
bar of eternity ? After all we are like children blowing 
soap-bubbles out of a clay pipe, forgetting that the bub- 
bles burst fast and the clay is soort broken. But the 
process is entertaining, time passes, and the bubbles are 
beautiful, as a sunbeam falls upon the shining disk and 
paints it over with rainbows. Still the air moves and 
the bubbles burst ; but we can blow another, and so we 
keep on blowing, blowing ! 

God says there is bigger work for us. The text calls 
us to spend our life on that which is not a trifle — God ! 
Take hold of him. God is not a trifle, heaven is not a 
bubble, religion is not a form of amusement. Take hold 
of these. They dignify and ennoble life here. They 
invest the insignificances of time with importance, and 
have a durable value which eternity will not destroy, 
but enhance. 

There is a downward drift in everything that belongs 
to this world. The law of the world is degeneration. 
You have only to let anything alone and it will go to the 
devil of itself. Let a ship alone and it will wreck itself. 
Let a house alone and it will by-and-by tumble down of 
its own depravity. Let a man alone and he will degen- 
erate. God would counteract this downward drift. His 
whole effort is to make something out of us — the best. 
For degeneration he substitutes regeneration. He would 
put an end to our trifling and set us afire with great am- 
bitions to amount to something in his glorious kingdom 
of redeemed and enthroned manhood and womanhood. 
He says to every one of us : ' ' Take hold of my strength, 
that you may have peace. ' ' There are three thoughts 
in the text : First, the human element in religion ; 



TAKE HOLD OF GOD. 309 

second, the divine element in religion; and third, the 
product of their union. 

I. Tliere is a human side to religion. Man has some- 
thing to do with getting himself saved. " Let him take 
hold. ' ' People do not drift into heaven any more than a 
ship drifts up to its landing at the pier. If you want to 
possess yourself of God you must take him. You cannot 
buy salvation, to be sure ; you cannot earn it, you cannot 
deserve it, but if it is ever yours you must take it. 

There are those who believe altogether too much in 
divine sovereignty, or rather who frame into their creed 
a monstrous distortion of the doctrine of divine sov- 
ereignty. They make it synonymous with fatalism. 
They reason this way : ' ' The Almighty made the uni- 
verse and he is responsible for it. I shall not attempt to 
interfere with his prearranged plans. If he wants me 
redeemed, he must see to it. If he wants to send me to 
hell, he must bear the responsibility of it. I am here 
without my choice, the creature of environment and 
accident. If I were to fail to perform the specific part 
assigned to me in the economy of God's plan, I might 
throw the machinery of the whole universe out of gear. 
So I shall merely remain passive and allow whoever is at 
the head of this world to manipulate me to the greatest 
advantage." 

That is the caricature of the truth of divine sover- 
eignty, in the baldest, most repulsive, coarsest, Inger- 
solian form. 

The same spirit comes to the front also with more 
subtle speech, pretending to be most humble in its sub- 
mission "to the Lord's will," and prating in pious cant 
about its longing for ' ' divine guidance. " " God knows 
what I ought to do, and what I ought not to do," it 
says. " I am in the Lord's hands to be used as he may 



3IO SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

see fit. If he wants me to do this, he will make me do 
it. If he wants me to avoid that, he will make me hate 
it. I have just handed over my entire personality to 
him, and he is responsible. I am merely a bit of drift- 
wood floating on the great sea of divine providence, 
subject to the winds and tides which the Lord may send. 
How delicious it is not to bother about steam and chart 
and compass, but just to float, float, float." 

Yes, and you will wake up in hell on that schedule. 
When God saves us he does not take from us conscience, 
senses, mind, or Bible. That is an awful travesty on 
religion. We have our part to do, we must "take 
hold," and if we fail to do that, all the cant and pious 
profession of submerging our identity in the divine pur- 
pose will not get us into heaven. 

Sometimes it is charged that the Presbyterian Church, 
through its system of theology known as "Calvinism," 
teaches this doctrine of fatalism. It is said that we be- 
lieve that God has foreordained one section of the human 
race to heaven, regardless of what they may do in the 
matter, and another section to hell, regardless of what 
they may do. ' ' If you are going to be saved, you will 
be saved ; lost, you will be lost, and all your efforts to 
the contrary cannot thwart the divine decree. " It is said 
that we believe so mightily in the divine sovereignty of 
God that we have left no place for the free agency of 
man. Some one burrows away in his study until he un- 
earths the spectral figure of fatalism, and calling that 
"Calvinism," walks out into the world and proclaims 
"Calvinism the disgrace of theology." Yes, it would 
be if the cap fit, but it does not ; and I may be allowed 
to say in passing that Presbyterians do believe that the 
human element is vital. We do not believe in the 
decrees of God in such a way as to reduce to zero the 



TAKE HOLD OF GOD. 3II 

freedom and responsibility of the human agent. The 
statement of our Confessio?i of Faith on this subject ought 
to be sufficient for all those who will take the trouble to 
examine it. There it says : ' ' God hath endued the will 
of man with that natural liberty, that is neither forced, 
nor by any absolute necessity of nature determined to 
good or evil."* 

If that is not enough to settle any doubt on this sub- 
ject, a brief examination of the practical evangelism of 
our dear old church will amply refute the statement that 
her creed is fatalistic. She is in the forefront of the 
effort to carry the gospel to all mankind, believing that 
when her Lord said : ' ' Whosoever will may come, ' ' he 
meant it. The Presbyterian Church has sent out and 
supports one-fourth of the entire missionary force of the 
world. She leads the world in the grace of Christian 
giving ; and Mr. Moody was speaking from past experi- 
ence when he said that if he wanted to raise $100,000, 
he expected to get $80,000 of it from Presbyterians. 

We are not fatalists. There is a human element in 
religion, and I may say in the name of my church, no 
less than in the name of the Bible from which the church 
gets her creed, that if you are living as your fancy dic- 
tates, fast and loose, trying to shelve the responsibility 
for your moral inaccuracies on your Maker, and expect- 
ing some day to wake up in glory and hear him say : 
" Well done, good and faithful servant! " you are only 
preparing yourself for an awful disappointment. A man 
who here on earth crushes the poor, takes advantage of 
his neighbor's necessities, lays hold of the world and the 
flesh, believing that after a while he will hear the Master 
say : ' ' Forasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 

♦Chapter IX., Part 1. 



312 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me; 
enter into the joy of your Lord," that man is hugging 
an empty delusion. 

The Lord says, if we want all of this, we must "lay 
hold of him." Isn't that a rich phrase with which to 
express our part in the soul's salvation. " Let him take 
hold." We are not required to be theologians. It is 
not demanded of us that we exhaust the metaphysical 
subtleties of theosophy . We are merely to ' ' take hold. ' ' 
God has prepared salvation. He offers it as a gift. We 
are not required to do God's part over again. We are 
not told to die on the cross, to make atonement, but to 
take. That is faith, and faith is our part. Faith is the 
open, empty hand that reaches up to lay hold of what 
God has provided. Faith is : 

" Just to follow, hour by hour, where he leadeth, 
Just to draw the moment's power as it needeth — 
Just to trust him : that is all." 

If you are thirsty, the rivers of the world might be 
flowing at your feet, but unless you dip a goblet and 
drink you will never slake your thirst. Salvation is the 
bounty of God's free grace, but before it will ever do 
you any good, you must take the cup of salvation and 
call upon the name of the Lord. 

Nor is it difficult to understand wh}' this must be the 
case. You can send your boy to school, as some one 
has suggested, and pay all the expenses of his tuition, 
but you cannot give him an education regardless of the 
hard work which the boy must do himself. A general 
may promise victory to his soldiers, but they do not 
expect to obtain it without fighting. God may offer us 
salvation as a free gift, and does, but it can never be- 
come ours until we take it and experience it. Salva- 
tion is not a change of surroundings, but a new life. 



TAKE HOLD OF GOD. 313 

Heaven is no more a harp and crown and shining robe 
and saintly face than education is an armful of books 
and a wise expression of countenance. If one wants to 
be saved, let him take hold of God. Have you done 
this ? No ? And yet you wonder that you are not 
saved. You expect God to take you by the throat and 
force you into his kingdom. You are drifting along, 
living as you please ; and the meanwhile you are blam- 
ing the Almighty, and saying, "the Bible is false, the 
church is full of frauds, prayer is not answered, provi- 
dence is all topsy-turvy." Man, quit trifling ! Do your 
part. Lay hold of God. Then, if God fails you, you 
will have some just ground of complaint. And will 
you notice that it is not enough for you to stand away 
off and barely touch God with the finger-tips of a de- 
crepit faith. ' ' Let him take hold. ' ' That means a good, 
strong, honest clasp. Your soul is to cleave to God as 
Eleazer's hand did to his sword,* until you cannot let 
him go. Then your God will become a great reality 
in all you think and do. 

II. This brings us to the next part of our text — the 
divine element i?i religioii. While there is a human ele- 
ment in religion, it is not all human. Indeed, that is 
the smallest part of it. Let him take hold — of what? 
Of education, and civilization, and art, and scientific re- 
search, and moral culture? It does not say that, for all 
that, after all, would be but the man's laying hold of 
some part of himself. Higher is the call. Richer is the 
promise. "Let him take hold of my strength." That 
brings God upon the scene, and introduces the divine 
element in religion. 

There are people who call this superstition. Just as 



* 2 Samuel xxiii. 10. 



314 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

there are those who believe altogether too much in the 
doctrine of divine sovereignty, or in a monstrous perver- 
sion of that doctrine, so there are those who believe 
entirely too much in the doctrine of human agency, or in 
a monstrous perversion of that doctrine. The rationalist 
is at the extreme swing of the pendulum from the fatalist. 
He says : ' ' Man is a god unto himself. Religion is 
only a cult. Worship is spiritual gymnastics. The 
only good prayer does is the moral disciplinary effect on 
him who prays. What one believes about the various 
dogmas at issue in religion is a matter of small conse- 
quence. Believe what you please, if you are sincere. 
One church is as good as another. One god is as good 
as another. One heaven is as good as another. The 
only god and church and heaven you will ever know 
anything about are within you. You are the great 
reality. All else is pious fiction." 

Is that all there is of religion ? Is it simply a colossal 
temple of unmixed egoism, where God, church, heaven, 
priest, worship, eternity, are all but varying moods of 
the one and self-same ' ' his majesty myself, ' ' who makes 
' ' self ' ' the centre of the universe and transmutes a lie 
into the truth, by believing it sincerely? If that is all 
there is in worship, let us pitch all religion overboard, 
and cease chasing shadows. Religion is intended to 
make man happier, stronger, purer than he is naturally. 
It proposes, not to save him to himself, but to save him 
from himself; to save him to something larger and 
grander than he could ever otherwise attain. If it fails 
of this, if there is nothing above our heads, worship is 
only a pious pantomime; and we ourselves are but 
shadows playing solemn antics in holy moods. 

But there is something above our heads. We are not 
more certain of our own existence than of that. God is 



TAKE HOLD OF GOD. 315 

there. God ! He is stronger, happier, purer than we. 
He is all of these in infinite perfection, and now his 
word to us, struggling and striving to be lifted from our 
low estate is, "Take hold of my strength." Take hold 
of God. How life mounts up when that is done. " My 
strength!" God's strength! That is a rich phrase 
with which to set forth the divine element in religion. 
Strength means certainty in the midst of doubt, wisdom 
in the hour of perplexity, stability when the strain 
comes*, riches in poverty, light in darkness, serenity in 
storm. Christ is God's strength. Let us take hold of 
Christ. He will no more fail us than he did the woman 
in the gospel story who barely touched the hem of his 
garment. 

God is a rock in the midst of life's great sea, standing 
whereon the raging flood cannot reach us. It howls and 
sweeps and surges at our feet, but it cannot overthrow 
our God, and we are safe. ' ' Let him take hold of my 
strength. ' ' We do not have to understand it to measure 
it, to exhaust it, to follow it in all its works. We have 
only to take hold of it. You can do that. You cannot 
fathom God, but you can take hold of him. Maybe you 
cannot straighten out all of the theological intricacies to 
your satisfaction ; maybe your daily shortcomings are a 
constant mortification to you ; maybe you cannot even 
pray as you think you ought ; but you can take hold of 
God's strength. You can accept Jesus. This it is 
to which the Saviour would have us devote life. Instead 
of spending time on trifles, catching at bubbles, fasci- 
nated by the glitter of empty nothings, let us drink in a 
deep breath of heaven's air and begin to live. Take 
hold of God and be saved. 

III. And now we are beside the last part of our text. 
First the human element in religion, then the divine. 



31 6 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

They meet, and then the product — peace. "Let him 
take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with 
me." A human life, in its frailty and need, lays hold of 
God, and -God comes down and dwells in the human 
life, invests it with the power and majesty of his pres- 
ence, communicates the calm of heaven to the perturbed 
spirit, and there is "peace." Brethren, that is religion 
in its effect. "That he may make peace with me." 
God is anxious for us to come to that. The only safety 
for anything or anybody in the wide world is to *be on 
God's side. There is not room enough for two gods in 
the universe. 

Peace ! It is what we long most to possess. After 
all, it is the goal of life ; and beyond our business tasks 
and social recreations, our toils and plans, beyond all 
that we strive to do here, we are looking for peace. We 
try to secure it in different ways. 

Some attempt to obtain it by conforming to a low 
worldly standard and denying that anything better is 
possible. Others seek peace by surrendering themselves 
to the fullest gratification of all that is sensual and mate- 
rial. Still others strive to attain unto peace by stifling 
all anxiety with the stoic's dogma that " what cannot be 
cured must be endured. ' ' But any one who has tried it 
knows that all this is beggarly makeshift. Surroundings, 
external comforts, easy-going morals can no more bring 
peace to the soul than a soft couch can bring health to a 
fevered body. 

A nation may secure peace, some one has observed, 
by two methods — either by conquering, or by being con- 
quered. If it is willing to lay aside its national self- 
respect, to submit to insult and oppression, to submerge 
all prospects for national greatness and influence, it may 
have peace. There is a sort of peace possible to the in- 



TAKE HOLD OF GOD. 317 

dividual on such degrading terms. If we are willing to 
submit to the incessant demands of the baser part of us, 
we may by-and-by reach a state of moral callousness, 
where conscience will be silenced, and we shall have 
peace. Who wants such peace? That is not what God 
offers. The Christian gets his peace, not by being con- 
quered, but by conquering. He gets hold of omnipo- 
tence, and in the might of that defeats his adversaries 
and achieves peace. That is peace worth having. God 
lifts us above expediency. He dissipates anxiety about 
to-morrow, not by making to-morrow any the less a 
stern day, but by giving us strength to fight all of its 
battles successfully. 

God's promises may not mature in sixty days, but 
they mature, and promptly at the hour of need they may 
be realized upon to their full face value, with compounded 
interest. ' ' Wait on the Lord ; be of good courage, and 
he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the 
Lord."* 

"God holds the key of all unknown, 
And I am glad ; 
If other hands should hold the key, 
Or if he trusted it to me, 
I might be sad." 

Let us understand that to meet life successfully it is 
not necessary to understand all that is before us. Away 
with this diet of thin gruel on the table of those whose 
creed is a naked interrogation point. The life of faith is 
ever the strongest life. Believe in God and do your 
best and there is always certain victory. 

"The best men, doing their best, 
Know, peradventure, least of what they do. 
Men usefullest in the world are simply used." 

♦Psalm xxvii. 14. 



318 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

God is responsible, to whoever trusts him, for all that 
life needs to make it great and good. How lines of care 
fade out and disappear for him who realizes that ! ' ' Let 
me take hold " — that is our part . ' ' Of God ' s strength ' ' — 
that is God's part; and the result is "peace." 

You say all of this does well enough to preach about. 
It is a beautiful theory, but it breaks down in practice. 
Let us see. God has given us one perfect illustration of 
the text — Jesus Christ. In his earthly career the human 
and divine elements of religion met. In Christ human 
need took hold of divine strength, and the product was 
a life of absolutely undisturbed and unquenchable peace. 
Christ would reproduce his life in us. He would have 
us fight our battles as he fought his, and achieve the 
same glorious victory, for the same seraphic end. " My 
peace I give unto you." That is what Jesus has be- 
queathed to his followers from his cross. Peace ! Let 
us take hold of God with the clasp of a fresh and living 
faith, and receiving into our souls something of the in- 
effable calm which always reigns wherever God is, let us 
enjoy Christ's blessed bequest of peace. 





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TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST. 

BY REV. J. R. HOWERTON, D. D., 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Va. 



"For to me to live is Christ." — Phil. i. 21. 

THESE are the words of an earnest man and a ripe 
Christian. Even before his conversion Paul was 
a man of great earnestness, and of singular con- 
centration of purpose. He was a Pharisee after the 
straitest sect. He excelled all other young men of his 
own age in his attainments in the Jewish learning. He 
was exceedingly zealous for the traditions of the elders. 
When that new sect arose which, as he thought, threat- 
ened to overthrow the religion of his fathers, he was 
among its most zealous persecutors. So exceedingly 
mad was he against them that he persecuted them even 
unto strange cities. While on a mission of this kind 
there came to him that voice out of heaven which 
changed his whole life. The tide which before had 
been striving to check the current of Christianity now 
turned and flowed with it in increased volume and force. 
Paul now became as earnest a Christian as he had before 
been a Pharisee. All that had been gain to him he 
now counted loss that he might win Christ. He devoted 
himself to the service of Christ until it became the ab- 
sorbing purpose of his life. He now said, "This one 
thing I do." 

This epistle was written near the close of his life. 
His labors and sufferings for his Master's cause, his life 
319 



320 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

of communion with him had ripened his character to 
that degree of consecration which marks this whole 
epistle. He was writing from prison at Rome. The 
news of his arrest must have spread consternation 
throughout Christendom. Especially must it have 
brought sorrow and dismay to this 16ving and beloved 
people. He wishes to cheer and encourage them. "I 
would that ye should understand, brethren, that the 
things which happened unto me, so far from proving to 
be a calamity to the cause of Christ, have turned out 
rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. For many of 
the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, 
are much more bold to speak the word without fear. It 
is true, some preach Christ from wrong motives, sup- 
posing to add affliction to my bonds. But whether in 
pretence or truth, Christ is preached, and therein I do 
rejoice and will continue to rejoice. It is my earnest 
expectation and my hope, that as always heretofore, so 
now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether 
it be by life or by death. And it matters not to me 
which, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

' ' To me to live is Christ. ' ' Notice the singular word- 
ing of the text. It is a pregnant construction. Paul 
states an equation, of which "to live" is the first mem- 
ber, and ' ' Christ ' ' is the second. He affirms some sort 
of an identity between Christ and the Christian's life. 
What does he mean? 

There are two very common senses in which we use 
the word ' ' life. ' ' The first is in the sense of the vital 
principle, that mysterious force which animates dead 
matter, upon whose presence depends nourishment and 
growth. We use the word in this sense when we say, 
"Life is extinct." The second is in the sense of the 
sum of the activities of body and soul, the outworking 



TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST. 32I 

of the inward principle. We use it in this sense when 
we say of a man that he lived a useful life, or when we 
say, " Life is real, life is earnest." 

We use the word in both these senses when we refer 
to the spiritual as well as the natural life. When we 
speak of the spiritual life we may mean either its vital 
principle or the outworking of that principle in spiritual 
thoughts, desires, words and deeds. Paul affirms an 
identity between Christ and the Christian's life in both 
these senses. He affirms it in the first sense in Galatians 
ii. 20, when he says, "I am crucified with Christ, never- 
theless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and 
the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of 
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." That 
is, Christ is the author and sustainer of that inward 
principle of the new life. 

But I think that in our text he is using it in the 
second sense. He refers to the outward development of 
the life that is within ; the sum of its thoughts, pur- 
poses, activities, and sufferings ; to his life as a whole. 
As Christ is the source of the inward spiritual life, so 
he is the end and object of its outward development. 
As the earth derives her life from the light and heat of 
the sun, develops that life into countless forms of use 
and beauty, then, circling within the orbit of his attrac- 
tion, exhibits the infinite variety of her life, thus re- 
turning that which he gave ; so the Christian derives his 
inner spiritual life from Christ, develops it into spiritual 
graces and activities, then, revolving about him as the 
great centre of attraction, consecrates to him the life 
which he has given. 

' ' Christ liveth in me — to me to live is Christ ! ' ' What 
a philosophy of life we have in these two sentences ! 
What a sublime explanation of its source and end ! And 



322 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

to think that it came from a prisoner, awaiting a felon's 
death ! Contrast it with the sad pessimism of the royal 
skeptic : ' ' The living know that they shall die, but the 
dead know not anything." 

I shrink from trying to analyze this text, lest I should 
seem to mar its force and beauty. But for the sake of 
confining our attention to it for a little while, let us look 
at it in this way : i . Christ gives to life its purpose — 
his glory; 2. Christ gives to life its motive — his love; 
3. Christ gives to life its character — nobility; 4. Christ 
gives to life its issue — success. 

I. Christ gives to life its purpose — his glory. Life 
must have an end as well as an origin, a purpose as well 
as a cause. We are just as much compelled to believe 
that everything has a final cause as that it has an 
efficient cause. The one belief is just as intuitive as 
the other. To use the old illustration, if we saw a 
watch for the first time, we should not only believe that 
somebody made it, but that he made it for some purpose. 
If our first question were, Who made it? Our next 
would be, For what purpose did he make it? The 
second question is just as necessary as the first, and the 
mind will not rest until both are answered. The effort 
to find the answer to these two questions gives rise to 
all philosophy and science. This question rises to su- 
preme importance when it concerns the human life. 
The question, How did we come into being? is of no 
more importance than the question, For what do we 
live ? And as the efficient cause, so must the final cause 
of life be adequate to account for it. Life as a whole 
must have some sufficient purpose. It is not enough to 
find an object for the intellect, another for the faculty of 
taste, another for the affections. Man's life is not a 
mere sum of so many days, months, and years ; it is not 



TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST. 323 

a mere bundle of thoughts, feelings, words, and actions. 
There must be unity in the purpose of life. This unity 
of purpose is necessary to the success of life as a whole. 
There must be some one object upon which all man's 
faculties may be centered, and which is worthy of their 
highest and noblest exercise. In any part of life single- 
ness of purpose and concentration of effort are necessary 
to success. Some years ago I was passing down a river 
valley. One scene I remember, where the river spreads 
its whole volume of water into a broad and beautiful 
lake, surrounded by mountain walls. Beautiful, but 
useless. Just beside the river ran a canal, narrow, but 
deep. That canal perhaps did not contain one-tenth the 
volume of water which the river did, but it had once 
carried the commerce of a nation. So, if a man would at- 
tain success among the world's workers, he must choose 
his calling, and concentrate his powers upon it. Now, 
if this be true of the component parts of life, how much 
more of life itself? In an orchestra, not only must every 
instrument be in tune with itself, but every one must be 
attuned to all the others. So there must be some com- 
mon chord to which all the faculties of the soul may be 
attuned, in order to make of life a perfect harmony. A 
man may seem to have been a success in his business or 
profession, to have been happy in his affections, to have 
had every taste gratified, and yet his life as a whole may 
have been one stupendous failure. When death comes, 
he will be like a tree whose fruit has been killed by an 
untimely frost, whose leaves have been scattered by the 
winds, and whose trunk, worm-eaten and deca"ed, has 
returned to the elements from whence it came. 

Such a purpose was given man in his first creation — 
the glory of God. This alone is an end unto itself; this 
alone was worthy of man's life ; this alone could call all 



324 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

man's faculties into their highest and noblest exercise. 
But when man fell he prostituted his powers to baser 
ends. He lost both the power and the will to live for 
God's glory. In redeeming man Christ has restored to 
him this same purpose in a new form. It is now the 
glory of God in and through Christ. Under the gospel 
the glory of God as embodied in Christ, in whom 
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, is man's 
chief end. Through him all approach to God must be 
made, through him all work for God's glory must be 
done. "Who gave himself for us that he might redeem 
us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar 
people, zealous of good works." "Whether we live or 
whether we die, we are the Lord's ; for to this end Christ 
both died and revived and rose again that he might be 
Lord both of the dead and the living." 

All that is worthy of human effort is embraced under 
this purpose. To seek the glory of Christ is to seek the 
highest development of one's own soul, and the highest 
good of one's fellow-men. It includes all that humani- 
tarianism offers as the end of human effort, and infinitely 
more. Christ is the chord to which all the faculties of 
the soul must be attuned to make of human life a har- 
mony which shall resound throughout eternity to the 
glory of God. 

II. Christ gives to life its motive — his love. To make 
a success of life as a whole there must not only be a 
purpose worthy of all the powers of a human soul, but a 
motive which will arouse them to their highest energy. 
Motive is to the soul what steam is to an engine. With- 
out steam the most perfect machinery is useless ; without 
a life-motive the most highly -gifted soul is worse than 
useless. 

I once saw a painting in some art gallery of a beauti- 



TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST. 325 

fill vessel, under full sail, becalmed upon a glassy ocean. 
To me there was a sadness in the picture which was 
only enhanced by its beauty. I could not but think 
how many souls are like that vessel, endowed with the 
highest powers of mind and heart, yet becalmed upon 
the ocean of life — without a life-motive ! 

Said George Eliot, "What makes life dreary is the 
want of motive." How many wasted lives testify to 
the truth of that saying ! " Is life worth living ? ' ' The 
answer depends upon the answer to the questions, ' ' Has 
life an end ? has life a motive ? ' ' There is a great deal 
of pessimism in the world to-day because men cannot 
answer these question for themselves, and will not ac- 
cept God's answer. 

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 

The dark unf athomed caves of ocean bear ; 
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air, ' 

is Gray's oft-quoted saying. So, hidden away in many 
a human soul precious gifts lie dormant, because no mo- 
tive arouses them to exercise. How many Cincinnati 
or Putnams may be plowing in their fields to-day ; how 
many Jacksons many be teaching in their little school- 
rooms, because their country's voice does not call them 
to arms ! How many statesmen whose names might be 
written in their country's history are pursuing quiet 
avocations, leaving their places to be filled by dema- 
gogues, because patriotism does not call them to their 
country's service! Oh! how many talents are rusting 
in their napkins, because the love of Christ has not 
quickened the souls who possess them ! How many are 
there in this congregation who are living selfish lives, 
prostituting precious gifts to the pursuit of filthy lucre 
or idle pleasure, because the love of Christ has no place 



326 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

in your hearts? How many young men are here to-day 
who might be preaching the gospel and saving the lost, 
because the love of Christ does not constrain you ? How 
many missionaries are here to-day who have not heard 
the call of duty, because the love of Christ has not 
quickened your ears ? 

It was the love of Christ that made Paul what he was 
and enabled him to do the work he did. Without it his 
name would have been buried to-day in the annals of 
Jewish rabbis. 

The love of Christ is the only motive that can arouse 
all the powers of a soul into their highest and noblest 
exercise. And that is the strongest motive in the world 
to-day. It is doing more for the human race than all 
other motives combined. Make all the allowances you 
please for apathy of Christians and coldness in the 
church, the love of Christ still inspires the noblest sacri- 
fices and the most arduous labors. The love of Christ 
is the true altruism. And this is the motive which Paul 
commends to you when he says, "To me to live is 
Christ. ' ' 

III. Christ gives to life its character — nobility. The 
life whose purpose is the glory of Christ, whose motive 
is the love of Christ, however narrow its sphere, how- 
ever humble its condition, is a noble life. 

Was not Paul's a noble life? We can all see it now, 
but in his day he was despised both by Jew and Gentile. 
The noblest lives in the world's history have been those 
of followers of Jesus, of men whose motto has been : ' ' To 
me to live is Christ. ' ' Some of you may say : ' ' But we 
cannot all live such lives. If I could preach like Paul ; 
if I could win nations to Christ ; if I could write books 
which would overthrow error, or edify and comfort God's 
people ; if I could be a great reformer like Luther, or a 



TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST. 327 

great missionary ; if I could write hymns which should 
voice the devotions of God's people, then I might feel 
that a noble life was for me. But I can do none of these 
things. I have neither the talents nor the opportuni- 
ties." Who has not felt the wish that his talents were 
increased and his sphere of influence widened, that his 
name might be written in the catalogue of noble lives? 
But, it is not necessary to be a Paul, a Luther, a Bunyan, 
a Whitefield, a Carey or a Moffat, a Havergal or a Pren- 
tiss, to live a noble life. It needs only that the life- 
purpose be the glory of Christ, and that the life- motive 
be the love of Christ. Most of us must live what men 
would call commonplace lives. But however common- 
place, however humble, it is a noble life if Christ be its 
centre. 

Paul's was a noble life, but was not Hannah's life 
noble, too ? That mother who first consecrated her son 
to the service of God, then brought to the temple from 
year to year the garments which her loving fingers had 
fashioned for him in quiet obscurity — did she not live a 
noble life ? I know of a mother who, left early a widow 
with little children, had worked for years to support and 
educate them, looking forward to the time when her first- 
born son should take her burden from her shoulders. 
But just when he was emerging from boyhood he heard 
the call of God's Spirit to preach the gospel. Sore as 
the trial was, she gave him up to the service of her 
Master. Was not hers a noble life? And there are 
many such lives not recorded in man's history. Maiy is 
only one of many thousands of women who have anointed 
their Saviour with the costly fragrance of their lives, yet 
she is one of very few whose names are spoken wherever 
the gospel is preached. AH have heard of Augustine 
and Chrysostom, yet how many have never heard of 



328 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Monica and Anthusa, the Christian mothers to whom 
the church owes these men. The world resounds with 
Luther's fame, but how few outside of the students of 
church history have heard of John Staupitz, who led him 
to Christ. And there are thousands of lives just as 
noble which have not received eyen bare mention in 
church history. But when we come to study the history 
of the church which the recording angel is now writing 
we shall find their names in letters of gold. 

In a life consecrated to Christ, the needle, the plow, 
the saw, the counter, the desk, are instruments in doing 
(rod's work. The humblest Christian life is nobler than 
that of warriors, kings, orators, and statesmen, whose 
names are immortalized in man's imperfect histories. 

IV. Christ gives to life its issue — success. I have 
said that in order to the success of life as a whole there 
is need of unity of design. But we cannot plan our lives 
with any certainty for a single day, how much less for 
the months and the years to come ! Still less can we 
make our lives work together with those of others. We 
work often in utter ignorance of the design of the work 
we are doing. But there is over all a Master-mind, 
overseeing, directing all in accordance with a foreordained 
plan of infinite wisdom. I was once invited to ride with 
an engineer along the line of a railroad in process of con- 
struction. In one place I saw some digging into a hill, 
others shovelling the earth into carts, others hauling it 
away and dumping it into a valley. Each was doing his 
own work without paying any attention to others. A 
mile or so further on I saw another gang of workmen 
without any apparent connection with the first. I saw 
some of these with drills in their hands patiently striking 
away at exactly the same spot in the rock for hou; 5. I 
saw others putting dynamite into the holes thus drilled. 



TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST. 329 

I saw others sharpening instruments, tempering drills, 
and forging tools. As we drove along the engineer 
showed me a line of stakes leading from one gang to 
another. The whole road had been surveyed. I saw 
then the connection between the different squads of 
workmen, and their different tasks. All were working 
together, each in his own place and task, under the 
superintendence of the engineer. Unity of plan per- 
vaded the whole, so that not a blow of the pick or stroke 
of the drill was wasted. 

So Christ, the great Engineer, overlooks and directs the 
work of all those in his employ, so that it effects his 
design. He thus unifies the life of the individual Chris- 
tian, and of the whole church in all ages. It was by his 
direction that Paul became a missionary to the Gentiles, 
instead of preaching to the Jews as he thought he ought 
to do. It was b}^ his call that Paul went to Europe. Even 
what seem to us to be disasters are parts of his plan, 
and work out the accomplishment of his purpose. Thus 
Paul's arrest, voyage, and imprisonment at Rome, which 
seemed to be a great calamity, was ordered by Christ, 
and turned out rather for the furtherance of the gospel. 

Somewhere I have read a story Of a monk who, in the 
century before the Reformation, had discovered the truth 
by reading the Bible. He was shut up for the rest of 
his life in a dungeon. There he contrived to write his 
views, and concealed them in the walls of his dungeon. 
Long after his death the manuscript was discovered, 
published, and became a means of advancing the Re- 
formation. Even our failures are overruled for good. 
Indeed, in the Christian life there is no such thing as 
failure. We may not live to see it, but Christ will give 
it success. Even death, that black shadow of disaster, 
which lies across the path of every natural life, is to the 



330 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Christian the entering into the reward of his labors, the 
crown of success; for he can not only say, "To me to 
live is Christ," but "to die is gain." 

Now, dear friends, will you not make this, ' ' To me 
to live is Christ," the motto of your life? Oh ! what a 
different world this would be, if it- were only tried by 
men and women in every walk of life ! If only the 
preacher, whenever he stands in his pulpit or visits the 
homes of his people, would forget himself, and remem- 
ber, ' ' To me to live is Christ ' ' ! Would that every 
physician, as he goes about with his ministry of heal- 
ing ; every lawyer, as he pleads in the courts of justice ; 
every politician, as he accepts the office entrusted to him 
by his countrymen; every business-man, every laborer, 
made this the rule of conduct, "To me to live is 
Christ ' ' ! Oh ! that every wife and mother would 
make this the spirit of the home, ' ' To me to live 
is Christ " ! Oh ! that every woman to whom beauty, 
or wealth, or position, or talent, has given a command- 
ing position in society, would consecrate that influence 
to Christ ! What a different world it would be ! 

Young men ! you who stand upon the threshold of 
life, who are seeking to determine aright your choice of 
a profession, who are making your plans for the future, 
will you not, before all these, make the choice of a life- 
purpose and a life-motive? Will you not determine, 
whatever your choice of a life-calling may be, that this 
shall be its aim and motive, "To me to live is Christ" ! 
Then let other choices be what they may, your life will 
be a noble life, a successful life. Will you not all join 
me in the petition : 

"Father, I lift my prayer to thee, 
To grant me this, my earnest plea, 
The motto of my life may be, 
'To me to live is Christ.' 



TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST. 33 1 

'Thy strengthening grace, O, Lord, I pray 
That I, with each returning day, 
From loving heart may truly say, 
' To me to live is Christ. ' 

' My life, O, Christ, thou gavest me, 
A life from fear of death set free, 
That life I consecrate to thee, 
'To me to live is Christ.' 

' One purpose o'er my powers shall reign 
One motive all my heart constrain, 
Through all my life run this refrain, 
' To me to live is Christ. ' 

'Thy glory be my life's sole end, 
To that let all my powers tend, 
To that all my ambitions bend, 
' To me to live is Christ. ' 

' The love of Christ constraineth me, 
That love my one incentive be 
Inflame my answering love to thee, 
'To me to live is Christ.' 

' To loftier aim could soul aspire ? 
What nobler life could heart desire, 
What motive such devotion fire ? 
' To me to live is Christ. ' 

'Then when life's labors all are o'er, 
Its cares and sorrows are no more, 
And death stands knocking at the door 
'In Christ to die is gain.'" 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

BY REV. G. L. PETR1E, D. D., 
Pastor of the Presbyterian Churchy Charlottesville, Va. 



"I will give her the valley of Achor for a door of hope." — 
Hosia ii. 15. 

TO appreciate this prophetic language we must, of 
course, know something of the valley of Achor. 
While it is a name not much used now, it marked 
a spot once well known to the Israelite in the geography 
of his land. Its precise location cannot now be traced. 
It was near Jericho; it was closely connected with 
(jilgal; it was in the deep gorge of the Jordan, nestling 
somewhere amidst the spurs of the mountains that 
formed the central feature of the promised land. The 
name occurs only three times in the Bible. It has the 
eminence of importance, if not of frequent mention. A 
glance at its brief record may make it to us a door of 
hope, as God, through Hosea, said he would make it to 
Israel in the olden day. 

I. The Valley of Entrance. 
Israel's first camp across the Jordan was in the valley 
of Achor. It marked a great transition of the people. 
For forty years they had been pilgrims on the march 
or in the camp. They had camped on other people's 
ground, and marched across alien lands. They had 
never been at home. Their whole history is summed up 
in two short chapters — slaves in Egypt, pilgrims in the 
wilderness. But in the valley cf Achor they had a new 

33-2 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 333 

experience — at home. Always it had been : to the land 
of which the Lord had said, ' ' I will give it you. ' ' Now, 
this is the land. Here pilgrimage ceased, and perma- 
nent residence began ; here was the throwing off of the 
old and the putting on of the new. 

Some sudden changes took place in Achor's vale. 
Here was a camp in which Moses was sadly missed. 
The great leader had finished his work and gone to his 
reward. Joshua had now begun to be magnified in the 
sight of Israel. In the valley of Achor a new order of 
things began. 

See ! yonder cloudy pillar, guide of the host for forty 
years, rolls up and is borne away by unseen hands. The 
pillar, which was a cloud by day and a fire by night, is 
beheld no more. Its work accomplished, it retires from 
the scene. Israel has reached the land long sought, 
and there is no more need of guidance on the way. 
Another change. The morning comes. As the Israelite 
looks out from his tent door he sees no manna on the 
ground. The manna ceased, the bread from heaven by 
which a travelling host had been so long fed. A better 
food was now in reach, the old corn of the land and 
Canaan's luscious fruits. On these, with great delight, 
they fed. How great a change a day had made ! 

That change had been accomplished by the shortest 
march Israel had ever made. Many a long day's march 
Israel had made. Beginning in the morning fresh, in 
the evening worn and weary they had pitched their 
tents, yet seemed to accomplish naught. No progress, 
no gain, no betterment of their estate; or, if a change, 
only seeming worse for their long march. This last 
march, which brought them to Achor's vale, the shortest, 
yet accomplished most. At night they camp in sight of 
yonder eastern bank of Jordan, which in the morning 



334 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

they had left; in sight of yonder heights of Moab, where 
the tented host so recently had dwelt. Now let the 
silver trumpet sound long and clear. Let its music ring. 
Its prolonged note has reached the plain where the morn- 
ing camp had been, and wakes the silence of its solitude. 
Israel's shortest march of all in those forty years ! How 
great a change is by it wrought ! Take down the old 
signs ; put up the new ; Israel at home. 

Why all this? Why can a little movement here and 
now do more than great movements elsewhere and at 
other times? That short journey led Israel across a 
great dividing line. That made the difference. Some 
places that are very far apart are very near— no line be- 
tween them ; no real difference, though there be a stretch 
of miles on miles. Some places are very near, yet very 
far apart. A line divides them. It makes a very great 
difference on which side of the line we stand. By long 
journeys we may only compass the mountain, or meas- 
ure vast stretches of dreary desert sands or pathless 
wilds, and after all be no better off, and at last die 
wretched pilgrims. All the trouble goes for naught. A 
step across the line may put us at home, may bring us 
into the valley of Achor. To us it becomes a door of 
hope, a gateway to the land. 

Come over into the valley of entrance to-day. Some 
of you have journeyed long, but have not reached the 
Rest. You are clinging to the accompaniments of pil- 
grimage—cloud and manna, things that have brought 
you to the border of the real blessing. You look over 
into the valley of entrance, but cross not its dividing line. 
Make this shortest march of all. In sight of the pro- 
mised blessing, cross over and possess it. This final 
act marks no great progress, but notes a mighty change. 
God has put the door of hope across the line. He who 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 335 

obeys God's call may enter, and entering cherish hope. 
He may not know a great deal of the land. He may 
not have seen what lies beyond the valley of entrance. 
His progress may be measured by very short lines. He 
may be just across the line, just within the boundary. 
God bids him hope. 

God puts the door of hope just across the line ; not 
up in the strongholds ; not up in the high mountains, 
approached by narrow, steep and difficult defiles, to be 
besieged and stormed and scaled by heroic act ; but in 
the beautiful, lowly vale, into which the pilgrim cannot 
help coming who will only cross the line. Hope is not 
a matter of rich experience and great advance, but of 
clear title and prompt obedience to God's call. It is not 
a matter of profound feeling, but of camping on the 
other side of the line God has drawn. 

On Moab's heights ; in Israel's camp. Come to the 
brow of this mountain. Look over. See threadlike 
Jordan in its deep gorge. Beyond it the beautiful valley 
running up into the sides of the mountains, robed in 
loveliness, arrayed in exquisite charms. It is a happy 
place to be. But more : it is the gateway to the entire land. 
When God calls , obey. Camp in the valley of Achor . You 
will find, wreathed in its graceful vines, amidst its beauti- 
ful flowers and mellow fruits, a door of hope, a gateway 
to the land. So God has put for us a beautiful door of 
hope within reach, but across the line. If you will cross 
this line, come. Come now to Jesus Christ. This first 
stand will be to you a door of hope. Through it and 
from it you may advance to all the treasures and delights 
of grace and glory, too. 

II. The Valley of Trouble. 
It is a significant fact that Israel's first camp in Canaan, 



336 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

so beautiful and bright and full of hope, should be the 
place from which their army went forth to calamitous 
defeat, and to which the routed force rushed back in dis- 
order and dismay. Strangely significant ! Achor was 
a gateway to the entire land. Israel entertained no wish 
to lie always at the gate, but, having been happily 
ushered in, began to plan for pushing further on. 

A city on the overhanging heights they conclude to 
take. They send a party up the mountain pass to 
reconnoitre and report. Their report : a few can take it. 
A little army climbs up, is completely routed, and hastily 
returns. Alarm seizes on the entire host. The secret 
of defeat God reveals. There is an accursed thing within 
the camp. Call the roll. Achan is singled out. Out 
of two million people God can discern the troubler, and 
single out the man. None can hide from him. A multi- 
tude is no defence from him with whom we have to do. 
God has no difficulties. He knows where sin lurks, and 
he can bring it forth into the light of day. 

Achan stands helpless and exposed. What has he 
done? Is he a murderer? No. A blasphemer? No. 
Unclean ? No. He is a young man ; for Joshua says : 
" My son, what hast thou done? " He confesses all. In 
his tent is concealed a Babylonish garment and a wedge of 
gold, spoils of war. That does not seem so bad in itself. 
But it is fearful in this light : God forbade it. There can 
be no greater sin than to disobey God. ' ' Achan, did you 
know it was wrong ? " " Yes ; I hid it. ' ' He weeps. But 
tears wash not away his sin. Make way. Stand around. 
Take now the stones, and hurl them at him, who brought 
the accursed thing into Israel's camp. Then, when he 
lay dead, they heaped the stones on him to mark the 
spot where Israel's troubler died. Whatever the beau- 
tiful valley before was named, henceforth they called it 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 337 

Achor, Valley of Trouble. Then the army marched on 
to victory. So even by its gloomy name the valley of 
Achor was to Israel a door of hope. The trouble which 
they encountered there was after all a pledge of victory. 

Certain hard lessons which we learn open to us the 
door of hope, and make way for further progress, and 
qualify us to advance. Religious life is not meant to 
cherish sin, nor to afford to sin a hiding-place, where 
unnoticed it may ply its deadly work. In the Christian 
God does not license sin. God is as sure to punish sin 
in his people as in any one else. God slew all the rebel- 
lious in the wilderness. They were not allowed to enter 
Canaan. On Moab's plains all who were led away into 
idolatry God slew. They were not allowed to cross the 
Jordan. But now the host has crossed the border stream, 
and is camped in the valley just beyond, none aged, none 
infirm. Will not God be indulgent to them now? See 
here a venture. Achan disobeys a known command. 
Will not God pass that by? Vain hope. Achan dies 
by God's command. 

Sin is just as bad in a Christian as anywhere else. 
God will drive it out ; by rough means it may be, by 
some means it will be, though by tears and sighs and 
groans. Your sin must leave. The process may be 
painful ; but sin must leave. These hard places become 
monumental places in our lives, where by severe correc- 
tion there is opened to us a door of hope. There is hope 
for one who has learned this lesson : no sin ; no accursed 
thing. 

The fruit of disobedience is defeat. All check to 
progress is in sin. There were two attacks on Ai. How 
different their results ! The same men, the same place, 
the same courage, the same zeal, the same expectation. 
One a disaster; the other a glorious success. Yonder 

22 



338 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

mound explains the difference. Sin was rooted out. 
The greatest obstacle in the way of the success of truth 
and of gospel triumph is not the number and prowess of 
the opposing host ; not the strength of his towers and 
battlements and the bristling ramparts of his defence; 
but it is the disobedience that 'finds a lodgment in 
Jehovah's host. Defeat came to Israel, not when foes 
were mightiest, but when Israel in this was weakest, 
when Israel disobeyed the Lord. 

An unwritten chapter in the history of the church : 
the causes of defeat. Not the might of foes, nor the 
number of them, nor their munitions of war; no more 
than it was Ai that by its might hurled back Israel's 
startled men. The cause is in the camp. The want is 
at home. It is in these tents where tabernacle the war- 
riors of God. Search here. Find it; drive it out. 
Then there can be no successful resistance to the 
gospel work. When we find and kill the sin that 
causes harm, we, too, shall call the Valley of Trouble a 
door of hope. 

All Israel did not sin in this; but all had trouble 
from it. The trouble, too, was to the entire host a 
blessing, because it became to all a door of hope. It is 
the hard lesson from which we get most good, and from 
which opens widest the door of hope. Israel little 
thought, as they camped in that beautiful valley, where 
all was so sweet and bright and lovely, where they had 
turned their backs on the dreadful desert and the howl- 
ing wilderness, where there were no mournful desert 
winds, no rude storms, but musical brooks and gentle 
fountains and soft breezes, that they were going to have 
a terrible sorrow there. Yet it came, and through no 
fault of the entire host. They had to bear the burden, 
though they did not make it. But after it was all over 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 339 

they had learned a great lesson and received a great 
blessing. 

Our rest in the valley of delight is often interrupted 
and disturbed. It may not be our fault. It may come 
like a mountain storm, quick, sharp, severe. The ex- 
perience may give a new name to our abode, a name of 
sorrow. What shall we call our once happy vale, where 
our joys were many, and our hopes were bright, and our 
pleasures were as the sweet morning hours, where we 
were all together, and our songs were happy ? What 
shall we call it now? Call it the valley of Achor. We 
know now what trouble is, and sorrow and tears. We 
dwell in the shadow now : valley of Achor. 

Hark ! From above a voice that speaks in accents of 
cheer, in contrast with our sad hearts and plaintive 
mood. Hear ! The valley of Achor I will make to you 
a door of hope. A heavenly presence is felt. In the deep 
shadows the tumultuous soul is stilled. The cheering 
music of the heavenly voice gladdens the heart. The 
music of the heart is transposed from chord to chord, till 
all its plaintive notes are lost and only cheerful strains 
remain. The brightening light, breaking through the 
darkness, chases the shadows all away. It is the same 
scene, but the scene retouched and transformed. The 
valley of Achor still, but it has become a door of hope. 
Then we thank God, who brought us through the trouble 
into peace. Then, in the new light, we wonder that the 
valley ever seemed so dark. 

III. The Valley of Renewal. 
Many a long and weary year rolled by in Israel's 
checkered history in which Achor is not named. It 
seemed destined to oblivion. Many passing doubt- 
less said, There Achan died. Judges ruled and kings 



34-0 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

reigned. Israel grew and prospered, then declined. 
The kingdom was rent in twain. Calamities befell. 
Disasters happened. Worse destinies seemed imminent. 
Apostate, wicked, abandoned, Israel became. Idolatries 
and crimes of all sorts prevailed. Oh, what a change ! 
How sad and desperate ! God calls Hosea, and says to 
him, Go, call Israel back. Invite them, allure them. 
Bid them recall the olden time of their zeal and piety. 
If anything will soften the human heart, it is calling up 
the happy past. Call to their mind the record of the 
good time when their fathers crossed the Jordan and 
camped in the valley of Achor, where they entered the 
land, and where they were delivered out of trouble. I 
will make it the door of hope to them again, and they 
shall sing just as they sang there long ago. So this 
long interval of sin and sorrow shall be cut out, and 
happiness and consecration be renewed. 

We are all more or less familiar with the irreparable ; 
the wrongs in life that we cannot right; the evils we 
have done that we now cannot undo ; the sins that 
stay. A word you said, you would now like to recall, 
but cannot. An act your right hand did, you would 
give your right hand now to undo. You have lost your 
morning hours of life. Oh, if you could bring them 
back and use them better ! You are suffering from early 
wrongs. A thousand sins perpetually haunt you, and 
mock your folly, by which so easily you were led astray. 
You have drifted into ways from which you cannot now 
escape. You have contracted obligations you know not 
how to annul, nor yet how to meet. What a helpless 
feeling creeps over you, possesses you. Bound, bound, 
bound ! Oh ! to break the chain and be free again. 
You are a wreck, a heap of ruins. You can never get 
back to where you were. Poor remnant of a broken 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 34 1 

life! What can you do with it? An old man is seen 
looking at the children as they play. What is he think- 
ing about? How great advantage he has over them in 
being farther on with life's work, nearer the goal, nearer 
the great reward? Oh.no; far from it. He is thinking 
of his own misspent life ; wishing he might once more 
stand at life's door of hope ; thinking he would enter in, 
go on, and do well. But he is a ruin now, and has lost 
his time. It is sad ! The picture stands for many. 

Hosea, run to that man, and tell him the Lord can 
make the valley of his sorrow hopeful yet. Tell him 
God invites. Tell him the valley of Achor God can 
make a door of hope, though to his dim vision there is 
no such bright prospect yet revealed. In that valley 
songs of gladness, as in the olden days, may wake the 
silence, or change the sad refrain of hopeless grief to a 
note of sweet delight and purest joy. 

Is there a troubled soul now here ? Is there here a 
wrecked life? Come to the door of hope. Bring your 
ruins. Bring the fragments of your life, no matter how 
small. Bring the relics of your love, no matter how 
impaired. Bring your dishonored bodies, no matter, 
how abused. Bring your polluted hearts, no matter 
how soiled. God wishes you. God has provided for 
you. God calls you. He wishes you to cast yourself 
down at his feet as a poor wreck, to be renewed, re- 
stored by him. Oh ! what can there be made of this 
sinful life? Much, very much. God says he will blot 
out the wretchedness you have wrought. He will take 
you back, back to the first camping-place, a reminiscence 
still to you of earliest peace and sweetest joy. Come to 
the valley of Achor. He will make it to you a door of 
hope. You shall sing happy songs again, as happy as 
ever waked from its silence the lovely vale. 



RELIGION NOT A VAIN THING. 

BY REV. SAMUEL A. KING, D. I)., 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Waco, Texas. 



"It is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life." — 
Deut. xxxii. 47. 

THIS testimony was given thirty-three hundred years 
ago concerning personal and family religion. The 
witness is Moses. Aside from his right to be 
heard as a divinely-appointed messenger, as we believe 
he was, the great Hebrew law-giver is entitled to an 
audience, and the generations of men have given heed to 
his words, because he was one of the world's foremost 
men. Any one tall enough to cast such a shadow as 
has been thrown by his conspicuous form across the 
space of three and thirty centuries will be recognized as 
one of the world's most colossal figures. 

In considering his testimony, as it is conveyed to us 
in the text, I remark — 

1 . That he was an i?itellige?it witness. 

No man is brazen enough to dispute the intellectual 
greatness or the extraordinary culture of Moses ; and 
he was thoroughly informed in the matter about which 
he speaks. He had not simply taken his belief on trust. 
True, the faith he held was the faith of his father and 
mother. There are some who cast slight on those who 
hold to the religious beliefs in which they were brought 
up. As for me, I think it no discredit to any man's in- 
tellect or intelligence to believe the Bible and walk in 
the paths of piety because his father and mother cher- 
342 



RELIGION NOT A VAIN THING. 343 

ished the Christian's faith in life, and enjoyed the Chris- 
tian's hope in death. If the Bible was a sufficient lamp 
to the feet of my father and my mother along the path 
they trod ; if it guided them in duty, sustained them in 
trial, was a solace in old age and a comfort in death, I 
blush not to avow myself a believer in that religion in 
whose faith they lived and in whose hopes they died. 

But this witness had abundant and unusual opportu- 
nities to compare the religious faith in which he had 
been reared with those beliefs which were different and 
hostile. He had been taught in all the learning of the 
Egyptians. He knew what was the best that could be 
offered by the world's wisest men, who had no revela- 
tion from God. He knew what fruits had been borne 
by the one form of faith and by the other. And he gives, 
in the words before us, his deliberate and intelligent 
testimony on behalf of the religion which was made 
known by revelation from God. 

2. He was a witness who had tested that of which he 
speaks. 

Many persons show a disposition to discount the testi- 
mony of young and enthusiastic believers — a disposition 
which we cannot approve. The faith and zeal of David 
and John and Paul was as real and as rational in the morn- 
ing of their religious life as in the after-ripeness of their 
rich experience. But when any are inclined to undervalue 
the testimony of a witness because he has not had his 
faith tested by time, they can offer no such objection to 
that of the man whose words we are considering to-day. 
He had embraced this faith when young, and held it 
through all the years till now he was old. Through 
loyalty to God and to his people, he had turned his back, 
when a young man, on the most dazzling prospect of 
earthly greatness that could fire the ambition of any 



344 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

youthful mind. And from that day forth, in banish- 
ment, in poverty, in conflict with Egypt's king and 
court, in trials from an unbelieving and fickle people 
whom he was leading from bondage to liberty, in all 
these weary years and through all these varied trials, his 
religion had been put to the severest test, and he had 
been able to make proof of its reality and its value. 
With this long experience behind him he utters with 
his aged lips the testimony in our text. 

3. He was a disinterested witness. 

He had nothing now to gain by speaking aught ex- 
cept the truth. He was now uttering his last words. 
In our courts of justice the declarations of a dying man 
are accepted as valid testimony. It is believed that the 
hour of death is ' ' life's honest hour ' ' ; that when one is 
on the border-line between the life that is and the life to 
come the lips will speak the truth. Moses had been 
told that he must die. Before ascending the mountain 
to view the promised land and then to die, he spoke these 
words, which were his "dying declarations" as to the 
truth and the preciousness of that religion in the light 
of which he had walked "till travelling days were 
done. ' ' 

I. The testimony of this witness .• 

(1), It is not a vain thing. 

Our religion is not a vain thing in the sense of lacking 
sufficient proof. 

We who believe the Bible to be the word of God have 
solid ground on which to rest our faith, and can give 
to every one that asks us " a reason of the hope that is 
in us." We invite those who would know the grounds 
of our confidence to ' ' walk about Zion and go round 
about her, to mark her bulwarks and consider her 
palaces." 



RELIGION NOT A VAIN THING. 345 

It is not a vain thing because it is not a speculation or 
an unpractical belief. 

Religion is practical or nothing. It prescribes a rule 
of life. It sets a watch at the door of our lips, and de- 
mands that our words shall be loving and truthful and 
chaste. 

It goes where no human law can enter and asserts 
authority where no human ruler can exercise dominion, 
in the secret chambers of the soul. It demands that the 
thoughts and affections shall be subordinated to its con- 
trol. That which prescribes a law for the outward life, 
which brings us into judgment for even idle words, and 
claims to regulate the thoughts and intents of the heart, 
is far removed from being a vain speculation, or the un- 
fruitful belief of a doctrine or "a creed, it is intensely and 
preeminently practical. 

It may be added that a religion which has borne such 
fruits in personal godliness, in household piety, and in 
the moral renovation of communities and states, whose 
presence in any age or land can be as surely recognized 
by its effects as can the course of a running stream by 
the verdure that adorns its banks, is not a vain thing when 
tried by the supreme test of being judged by its fruits. 

(2), It is your life. 

This is true as to nations. 

Israel furnishes a telling illustration. Immediately 
following the words of the text it is added: "And 
through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the 
land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. ' ' 

While the people of Israel obeyed the commands the 
promised blessings were enjoyed. They did not con- 
tinue in possession of the fair land bestowed upon them 
because they did not continue to set their hearts to the 
words of C rod's law to keep them. 



346 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Dispersed among the nations of the earth ; scattered and 
peeled and without a local habitation, they are a standing 
proof of the truth of Scripture prophecies, and their his- 
tory bears witness that religion is not a vain thing for 
peoples, and commonwealths, and kingdoms, because it 
is their life. 

This great truth is in as full force to-day as when it 
was uttered by the renowned Hebrew leader, and its ful- 
filment afterwards registered in the sad chronicles of the 
Hebrew people. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Sin 
is a reproach to any people, and will work their ruin. 
The mills of the Almighty Ruler "grind slow, but they 
grind exceeding fine." The history of states and king- 
doms that have risen, and prospered, and then gone to 
decay and ruin, is eloquent and emphatic in confirmation 
of the truth of our text. 

There is a lesson and a warning here for us. Our 
country is on trial. 

The perpetuity of our free institutions and the con- 
tinuance of that prosperity which has hitherto been 
enjoyed, the life of our republic, cannot be assured 
except on condition of loyalty to God and obedience to 
his commands. 

All our vast resources, our teeming population, our 
intelligence and energy, our Anglo-Saxon blood and 
prowess will not prevent the sure coming of decay and 
ruin, if we cease to be a people whose God is the Lord. 

The Bible, the sanctuary, the Sabbath and the Chris- 
tian home are chief among the defences which will secure 
to us and to our children our fair inheritance. The Bible 
has, in times past, been fiercely set upon, but like the 
anvil in the smithy, it is surrounded by the hammers 
that have been worn out upon its surface. 

The chief attack to-day is upon the Sabbath ; and if we 



RELIGION NOT A VAIN THING. 347 

let the Lord's day be despoiled of its sacredness and 
given over to worldly pastime, or trodden in the mire of 
worldty traffic by those who are led astray by the mad- 
dening greed for gain, we will have reached ' ' the begin- 
ning of the end. ' ' 

If the Sabbath of the Puritan and the Hollander and 
the Scot, the holy Sabbath of our fathers and our mothers, 
shall be exchanged for the ' ' Continental Sunday ' ' of 
modern Europe, or the fete-day of Mexico ; if instead of 
the holy day we have the holiday, there will follow a 
sure and perhaps a swift decay, and the time will come 
when upon all the temples of our prosperity and great- 
ness will be written ' ' Ichabod, ' ' for the glory will have 
departed. 

It is true of fcwnilies that religion is their life. 

It is the godly families that last. 

In the early days here in Texas there were some large 
and noted families whose names were familiar as house- 
hold words. They were ungodly and dissipated and 
reckless of human life. Their stalwart sons were 
the dread of the communities in which they lived. 
Though numerous then, they are now extinct. Their 
names are almost forgotten, and most of those who bore 
them went down to bloody graves ' ' unwept, unhonored, 
and unsung." 

In many communities in the older states can be seen 
the workings of this great law of life. There linger 
there the memories of prominent families, who were gay 
and godless. They were possessed of large estates, and 
held high social place by reason of birth and blood and 
wealth. The}- lived high and fast, without the fear of 
God or consideration of aught but the lighter or darker 
indulgences of a worldly life. They have disappeared. 
Other names are known where theirs were once most 



348 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

prominent. Other owners hold their great estates and 
occupy the stately homes where worldliness bore rule 
and godliness was eschewed. 

But there were other homes — some elegant and some 
humble — in which the parents set their hearts to God's 
word, and commanded their children to observe to do all 
the words of his law. The family altar was the centre 
of household life ; the family Bible was enthroned in the 
place of honor, and the ' ' sweet hour of prayer ' ' was the 
gateway through which they went forth in the morning 
to the labors of the day, and at evening time to the 
peaceful slumbers of the night. The sons and daugh- 
ters trained by the precept and example of parents who 
' ' lured to brighter worlds and led the way ' ' have per- 
petuated the honored names their fathers bore. In 
many cases they occupy the old ancestral homes. The 
rolls of members in the churches and of those who 
are now ministers, elders, deacons, and Sabbath-school 
teachers are largely filled with the names of those who 
were the fathers and mothers in Israel in the generation 
that went before. Godliness is not a vain thing for fami- 
lies ; it is their life, and through it they prolong their 
days. 

For individuals religion is not a vain thing ; it is their life. 

It is not merely a preparation for death. It is not 
' ' life ' ' in the sense of being or existence, though temper- 
ance and chastity and godliness tend to the strengthen- 
ing and preservation of physical and mental health and 
life. Life is a larger word than mere existence. In 
common speech we recognize the distinction when we 
say that one has a great deal of or very little life, or 
when we say of one whose lot has been isolated, or his 
surroundings disagreeable, that he stayed in such a place 
for a given time, but that he did not live. 



RELIGION NOT A VAIN THING. 349 

When one is possessed of the peace which comes 
from being justified by faith, and of a realized fellowship 
with God as our Father and with Jesus Christ as our 
Saviour and friend ; when mind and heart are filled and 
fired with the high conception that man's chief end is to 
glorify God and to enjoy him forever ; when ' ' sustained 
and soothed by an unfaltering trust ' ' that all things in 
life shall work together for good, and that dying will be 
but going home, then there is life in the full meaning of 
the large word, for then the whole man lives. All the 
faculties must be employed, and all the desires of man's 
nature must be met in order that life, in its fulness, be 
realized. Man's moral nature; his sense of account- 
ability to God and his relation to the future and to immor- 
tality, these are as real as his possession of a body and a 
mind. His consciousness of sin and of his need to be 
reconciled to God in order to have peace of conscience 
and a hope of heaven cannot be denied or ignored. Only 
the gospel meets the requirements of man's religious 
nature, and makes provision for satisfying the desires of 
the soul. 

A bird has a nature which prompts it to fly in the air, 
and its wings are fitted for free and graceful movement 
in the fields of space. You capture the little feathered 
songster and confine it within the bars of a cage. It 
may be a gilded cage, and its place may be amid the fair 
surroundings of one of earth's most luxurious homes. 
The little captive may be caressed and petted, and its 
dainty food may be served by a fair and jeweled hand. 
But that caged existence is not life to the little bird. If 
you would minister to its real life you must open the 
prison doors and permit it to go forth on eager wing to 
fly in the upper air and warble in cheerful notes its glad 
song of freedom. 



350 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

The prodigal son existed in the far-off land ; but was 
it life? He had the memory of his early home, of a 
father's care and a mother's love. He had, moreover, 
the consciousness of sin, and the remorse the sinner 
must sooner or later feel. He was far away from the 
well-remembered home, without friends or friendship; 
forced to occupy himself with uncongenial toil ; fain to 
satisfy his hunger with the food of the swine he herded, 
and was far more miserable than the unclean beasts 
which it was his daily task to feed. 

That existence was not life to him. But when "he 
came to himself, ' ' and his returning feet bore him back 
to the home he had left ; when the deep penitence of his 
softened heart found expression in the words of confes- 
sion that leaped from his lips, and he was embraced in 
the father's arms and welcomed back to sonship in the 
father's house, oh ! then the lost was found, and he who 
had been dead was alive again. 

Man does not live by bread alone. When creature- 
good is enjoyed in fullest measure it does not satisfy. 
The ox that feeds upon our plains can satisfy his hun- 
ger with the tempting grass, quench his thirst at the 
running brook, and then lie down in the nearest shade 
and be at perfect rest. Every want his nature knows 
has been fully met. He has no bitter memories of the 
past, no forebodings of the future, and no consciousness 
of wrong to make him ill at ease. But it is not thus 
with man. He cannot feed the hunger of his soul with 
the things of earth, nor satisfy its thirst with worldly 
pleasure, wealth, or fame. Only the bread of heaven 
and the water of life can feed and satisfy the soul. The 
gospel offers these. The Saviour came into the world 
that we ' ' might have life, and that we might have it more 
abundantly." "In him is life, and the life is the light 



RELIGION NOT A VAIN THING. 35 1 

of men." Coming to him we obtain pardon, and with 
it peace. The soul that was dead in sin is quickened 
into life. Spiritural life breathes in prayer, rejoices in fel- 
lowship with God and all the good, and finds ennobling 
use for all the faculties and employment for all the days 
in consecrated service. The affections have an object 
suited to their heavenly birth in a divine Saviour, who 
is "chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely." 
And this spiritual life, beginning in grace, will be per- 
fected in glory. "He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life. " . . . . 

How do you, my hearer, esteem this religion of which 
our text bears witness ? You may say that you set high 
value on it, and that you believe the Scriptures and all 
they teach concerning Christ and the great salvation. 
This may be the utterance of your lips, but what is the 
language of your life? There is a familiar adage that 
"actions speak louder than words." Do you act as 
though this were a vain thing, or to you the "one thing 
needful ' ' ? To profess to believe the Bible and to acknow- 
ledge the importance of personal religion, and yet neglect 
the great salvation, is a fearfully inconsistent course. 

The man whose heart has led him to be an atheist is 
consistent with his cheerless creed when he lives with- 
out God and without hope in the world. He who can 
walk amid the foot-prints of the Deity, which are im- 
pressed on all the acres of the globe ; who can lift his 
eyes to yon heavens, where the Maker's name is written 
in syllables of stars ; who can shut his eyes to all the 
proofs of God's being and wisdom and power that are 
above and about and within him, and say, "there is no 
God," he is consistent with his cold and dreadful belief 
when he lives as though it were " all of life to live, and 
all of death to die." 



352 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

The skeptic, who does not accept these Scriptures as 
the word of God ; who is so credulous as to believe that 
this wonderful book was written by unaided men ; who 
can believe that the character, and the life, and the 
words of Jesus of Nazareth were the product of the 
thought of the fishermen of Galilee, and that they died 
for bearing witness to the resurrection of a Saviour who 
did not rise from the dead ; the man who can believe all 
this is consistent in refusing to yield to this Saviour the 
love of his heart and the loyalty of his life. 

But not so with you, if you profess to believe the 
Scriptures to be the word of God, and to accept their 
teachings about sin and salvation, about heaven and 
hell, and yet treat as a vain thing ' ' the hope set before 
you in the gospel ' ' by neglecting to lay hold upon it. 
How have you been treating him who has been stand- 
ing and knocking at the door of your heart through all 
your years ? What of your attitude to the church, in 
which he asks you to take your place and confess him 
before men? 

What does your action say when the communion board 
is spread, and that Saviour whom you honor with your 
lips says to you, ' ' Do this in remembrance of me, ' ' and 
you refuse to take a place among those who remember 
his love? 

Were I to ask you on what terms you would barter 
away your faith in the Bible and your hope that some 
day you may be able to ' ' read a title clear to a mansion 
in the skies," I doubt not you would shrink with shud- 
dering from the proposal, and declare that you would 
not make that fearful bargain for a price that worlds 
would rate for. But, dear dying friend, what is the lan- 
guage of your life ? 

My Christian friends, do we manifest such earnest 



RELIGION NOT A VAIN THING. 353 

devotion to the Master we profess to serve, and give 
such diligence to make our calling and election sure, as 
to give proof that with us religion is not a vain thing but 
that it is our life? May God help us to walk worthy of 
our high vocation, and to show, by the choices we make 
and the lives we live, that we ' ' count all things but loss 
-for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus 
our Lord. ' ' 

This religion, to which the testimony of Moses was 
borne so long ago, is an old religion. Some things are 
the better for being old. Were we to seek a shelter 
beneath which to pitch our tent we would not choose 
the blooming and graceful vine that had sprung into 
being and beauty since the last frost and would perish 
with the next. Rather would we select an oak, like 
that beneath which Abram dwelt at Mamre, and 
which, gnarled and knotted though it might be, has 
anchored its great roots amid the rocks beneath the sod, 
and with giant arms has waged victorious struggle with 
the winds and storms of centuries. When we seek a 
place on which to build a home we do not go to the tide- 
washed beach whose sands may have been cast into 
forms of beauty by the movement of the waves, and 
strewn with shells and coral that have been lavished on 
its surface by the sea. We would go rather to some firm 
ground beyond the reach of tides, and digging deep till 
we find the rock, we would there build our habitation, 
and then feel sure that though "the rains may descend, 
and the floods come, and the winds blow and beat upon 
our house, it will not fall because founded on a rock." 

Were we about to cross the sea we would not choose 

the new and gaily-painted vessel that, fresh from the 

builder's yard, was just weighing anchor for her trial 

trip. We would prefer the veteran ship whose timbers 

23 



354 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

had been tested by the waves, and whose sails had been 
tried and mayhap torn by the storms through which the 
staunch vessel had often borne her living freight to the 
desired haven. 

In religion " what is new is not true, and what is true 
is not new." 

We will only build wisely when we build on the Rock 
of Ages. 

In choosing the bark on which to venture the precious 
interests of our souls and our hopes of heaven, let us 
take up with no speculation of ' ' modern thought " ; no 
faith that claims to be better, because newer, than that 
in which our fathers and mothers lived and died. But 
let us make our voyage, as did they, in " the old ship of 
Zion, which has landed many thousands and can land as 
many more." 



Jesus' Supreme authority. 

BY REV. C. R. HEMPHILL, D. D., 
Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Lotiisville, Ky. 



"Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I 
am." — John xiii. 13. 

JESUS and the twelve were assembled in the upper 
room of some unknown host in Jerusalem to celebrate 
the passover. It was the same night in which he 
was betrayed, and while they were gathered about the 
table Jesus arose and laid aside his garments; took a 
towel and girded himself; poured water into a basin, and 
washed his disciples' feet. He takes his garments and 
sits down again, and says to his disciples, "Know ye 
what I have done to you ? Ye call me Master and Lord : 
and ye say well; for so I am." Is he mistaken who 
finds here an acted parable of the incarnation ? The Son 
of God had abandoned his throne in heaven; had laid 
aside the glory of his divinity ; had girded himself with 
the nature of man, and set himself to the lowly service 
of cleansing and saving men. In a little while he is to 
return to the heaven whence he came, and to robe him- 
self with the glory which he had with the Father before 
the world was. The Son of man is the Son of God. He 
that is among men as he that serveth is also over men as 
he that ruleth. "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye 
say well; for so I am." These titles by which you ad- 
dress me, says Jesus, are no mere conventionalities of 
speech ; in their broadest import they are true. 
355 



356 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Master means teacher, Lord means owner or ruler; 
fusing these ideas together, the authority of teacher over 
pupil, of master over servant, of ruler over subject, we 
arrive at the conception of supreme and absolute au- 
thority. The humble figure that a few moments ago 
was discharging so menial an office now assumes to 
himself a dignity and an authority none other of the 
sons of men have ever ventured to claim. To vindicate 
the right of Jesus to the supremacy he claims does not 
fall within my purpose. I set before me the humbler 
task of defining his authority in its nature and extent. 

Many of his most familiar sayings carry with them the 
strongest assertion of his authority, and serve to display 
its nature. Here are some of them : "Ye believe in 
God, believe also in me " ; "lam the Bread of Life ' ' ; 
' ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink ' ' ; 
"lam the Light of the world " ; " Thy sins are forgiven 
thee " ; " The Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
Father with his angels " ; " The dead shall hear the 
voice of the Son of God " ; " The Father hath given him 
authority to execute judgment." When one speaks in 
this fashion it is natural for him to add, "For one is 
your Master, even Christ. ' ' To reach a more adequate 
notion of the authority with which Jesus invests him- 
self, let us dwell on some of his utterances. "I am 
the Way," he declares. Many are the roads, made 
smooth by the tread of many feet, over which men have 
travelled to find God. These paths end in darkness. 
Jesus is clothed with the authority to lead men into the 
knowledge of God, and to bring them into his presence ; 
he is himself the way. "No man cometh unto the 
Father, but by me." 

"lam the good Shepherd. ' ' The mark of the shep- 
herd is authority, wielded, it is true, with sympathy and 



JESUS SUPREME AUTHORITY. 357 

tenderness, but authority still. The flock must follow 
the steps of the shepherd, and yield to his guidance and 
control. Jesus is the good Shepherd, the only true 
Shepherd of the sheep ; all others are thieves and rob- 
bers. At the head of the flock walks Jesus, and only 
those who hear his voice and follow him will reach the 
shelter of the heavenly fold. 

"I am the Truth," Jesus affirms. Amid the babel of 
human tongues, crying, "lo! here, lo ! there," is heard 
this saying of Jesus, so quietly spoken that we may fail 
to hear it or to compass its meaning. The old fable is 
that truth once existed in the beauty and unity of com- 
plete proportions, but was torn into fragments and 
the fragments scattered to the winds. Men have been 
haunted by the vision of truth's pristine unity, and, 
cherishing the dream of its restoration, have been pa- 
tiently seeking the severed parts. Jesus declares man's 
dream fulfilled. The sovereignty of truth is imperial, 
her voice is imperative to the minds of men, the voice, 
indeed, of God. This sovereign authority of truth Jesus 
takes to himself. The august functions of the Judge of 
all the earth are among the prerogatives of Jesus. He 
pictures the solemn scenes of final judgment, and 
paints himself the central figure. Before his throne are 
gathered all nations ; in his hands is lodged the destiny 
of every man; and from his presence march the long 
files of the generations of men to their everlasting 
abodes. 

Observe how the acts of Jesus illustrate and lend force 
to his words. The winds and the waves are untamed 
by man, and are the very symbols of immeasurable 
power. See Jesus amid the storm. He rises in the 
little ship tossing on the billows, rebukes the wind and it 
hushes to silence; says to the waves, "Peace, be still," 



358 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

and there is a great calm. "What manner of man is 
this, that even the wind and the sea obey him ? " 

Death is the last and mightiest enemy of man. In his 
fear man pictures death with crown and sceptre. See 
Jesus confronting those whose lips are now sealed and 
whose beating hearts are stilled. "Little girl, I say 
unto thee, arise." "Lazarus, come forth." The dead 
hear this voice of authority and power. Jesus smites 
the sceptre from death and flings his crown into the 
dust. 

See Jesus face to face with the alien powers of hell 
which have invaded the inner life of man. He meets a 
man whose home was the tombs, whom no man could 
bind, no, not with chains ; who was possessed of a legion 
of demons. At his word the demons tremble and flee; 
peace falls on the troubled spirit of the fierce demoniac, 
and he sits at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right 
mind. The regnant spirit of Jesus betrays itself in his 
whole tone and attitude. It compasses him as an atmos- 
phere. Compare him with the religious teachers of his 
time. They were men of learning and of prestige among 
the people. Venerable precedent and hoary tradition 
were the sanction of their teachings. The method of 
Jesus was altogether different. He uttered himself; he 
was a voice and not an echo. People were quick to de- 
tect the contrast, and to catch the tone of this new 
teacher. ' ' The multitudes were astonished at his teach- 
ing: for he taught them as one having authority, and 
not as the scribes." This accent of authority is felt in 
passing from the prophets to Jesus. "Thus saith the 
Lord," is the formula of the prophet: "Verily, verily, 
I say unto you," is the formula of Jesus. Prophecy 
itself confesses his superiority. In John the Baptist 
Old Testament prophecy comes to its flower and con- 



JESUS' SUPREME AUTHORITY. 359 

summation, and in him does homage to Jesus and veils 
its face before his brighter glory. 

The bearing and tone of Jesus unite with his words 
and deeds to impress on us the authority, altogether 
singular and supreme, to which he lays claim. We no 
longer wonder that Jesus fails to rebuke Nathaniel, who 
calls him the Son of God ; commends Peter, who confesses 
him to be the Christ, the Son of the living God; and 
shrinks not from the worship of Thomas, who hails him, 
my Lord and my God ! ' ' Ye call me Master and Lord ; 
and ye say well; for so I am." 

Authority may be absolute in nature, yet may be lim- 
ited in range. Has Jesus traced limits within which he 
is to be supreme, and beyond which he is to be as other 
men? We discover none. His authority is coextensive 
with the faculties and acts and relations of man. The 
Lord Jesus is not a sovereign who commands obedience 
in certain spheres only ; he is supreme over the whole 
man. He is the Lord of the reason. He comes within 
the realm of the intelligence, and requires subjection to 
himself. He is to be "the master-light of all our see- 
ing." The truths he utters are fixed points from which 
thought is to travel, and to which it is to return. The find- 
ings of the reason are to be construed in relation to his 
teachings, and corrected by them. He does not argue, 
he declares. "Verily, verily, I say unto you," is reason 
enough for our reason. 

Jesus is Lord of the affections. Our love we regard as 
peculiarly our own, and a stranger may not intermeddle 
with our affections ; we will give or withhold, as we 
may choose. But Jesus prefers the highest claim upon 
our love. Even as his brothers' sheaves bowed before 
the sheaf of Joseph, so the affections that we cherish for 
father, mother, wife, children, must yield to the affec- 



360 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

tion we give to him. The very centre is to be shifted, 
and the movement of life must revolve about him. 

Jesus is the Lord of the conscience. It is a common- 
place of our thinking that freedom of conscience is the 
inalienable right and the proper heritage of man; yet 
with a great sum of tears and blood have we obtained it. 
This holy of holies of man's nature, within which king 
nor priest may come, Jesus claims the right to enter. 
The voice of conscience is to be the echo of his voice, its 
decisions to be guided by his judgments, and to be regis- 
tered for final appeal at his bar. 

Jesus is Lord of the will. Through this executive power 
man translates thought and motive and purpose into ac- 
tion, and expresses himself. Here, too, Jesus asserts 
supremacy. This mysterious and masterful faculty of 
man must guide its movement by Christ's will. 

"Strong Son of God, immortal Love, 

Our wills are ours, we know not how, 
Our wills are ours, to make them thine." 

With claims so lofty, and covering the amplitude of 
man's nature, the marvel is that Jesus is not pelted 
from the world. We remember that for his pretensions 
the Jews more than once took up stones to stone him. A 
Socrates, or a Confucius, or a Paul, who would arrogate to 
himself claims like these, would be despised for his folly. 
There is something in man that restrains him from has- 
tily resenting the claims of Jesus — an instinctive recog- 
nition, it may be, of the right of Jesus to be Master and 
Lord. 

Not that the authority of Jesus passes without chal- 
lenge. In unfolding the nature and extent of the claims 
Jesus makes upon the allegiance of men, I have had in 
mind some contrary teachings of our time. This comes 
not only from the avowed opponents of Christ. Some 



JESUS' SUPREME AUTHORITY. 361 

of those who count themselves his loyal disciples deny 
him knowledge, and, therefore, authority, in some re- 
gions where modern scholarship is most busy. It is 
said, for instance, that in regard to the history of Israel 
and the origin of Israel's sacred books Jesus had no 
knowledge, or, at any rate, delivered no authoritative 
teaching. Expressions of his which seem to indicate de- 
finite opinions and instruction must be interpreted by 
the doctrine of his self- emptying, or by the principle of 
accommodation to the beliefs or the modes of expression 
common to his day. Great caution must be observed in 
ascertaining what Jesus believed and taught, but he is 
on perilous ground who adjourns his faith in any teach- 
ing of Jesus, however incidental, to the results of even 
the highest scholarship. The disciples of Pythagoras 
confided in him so implicitly that to quote a saying of 
his was to them an end of all controversy. "Ipse dixit — 
he says it, ' ' was their very badge of discipleship. ' ' Ver- 
ily, I say unto you," falling from the lips of Jesus, 
should be to the Christian a bar to all further discussion. 

Whatever posture Jesus assumed towards the Holy 
Scriptures, loyalty to him requires should be ours. What- 
ever he believed and taught regarding the providential 
movement of the history of Israel, and the origin and 
character and veracity and inspiration of the then sacred 
books, this we should not hesitate to accept, though all 
the critics and scholars of the world should be arrayed 
against us. Ipse dixit — he said it. 

We do well to read again words long ago written of 
Jesus : 

"Why do the heathen rage, 
And the people imagine a vain thing? 
The kings of the earth set themselves, 
And the rulers take counsel together, 
Against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying, 



362 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Let us break their bands asunder, 

And cast away their cords from us. 

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. 

Yet have I set my King 

Upon my holy hill of Zion." 

Let me hasten to add, that subjection to Jesus is the 
truest freedom. Some may be tempted to think, "Well, 
this must be a hard Master, the claims he makes are so 
strenuous and extravagant ; it must be a bitter experi- 
ence to be in his service." Far from it. His yoke is 
easy and his burden is light ; and the liberty wherewith 
Christ makes free is the broadest and happiest. See 
what subjection to him does for men. He takes a few 
fishermen and publicans, slaves to ignorance and preju- 
dice, and by their obedience to him he lifts them to a 
place among the leaders of human thought for all ages, 
and sets them as shining examples for all time. Saul, 
the narrow-minded and bigoted Pharisee, becomes the 
' ' bond-servant of Jesus Christ, ' ' and is thereby trans- 
formed into the most illustrious exponent and champion 
of freedom of thought the world has seen. His unfettered 
intellect expands under the great ideas of Jesus, and his 
mind gives birth to ' ' thoughts sublime that pierce the 
night like stars." It is the thought of Paul that has 
brought freedom to the world. He is the universal 
thinker ; for depth and reach and influence on men and 
institutions no philosopher or statesman compares with 
him. 

But what is the effect upon character? Is not submis- 
sion to the will of another deadly to aspiration and 
growth and true virtue? To be subject to the Lord 
Jesus is to win the beauty of holiness. Fishermen and 
publicans, under this influence, become the saintliest 
spirits of mankind. A Saul becomes a Paul. It was 
Paul's delight to think the thoughts of Jesus Christ after 



JESUS' SUPREME AUTHORITY. 363 

him ; to guide his conscience by the judgments of Jesus ; 
to pour upon him his great heart's wealth of affection; 
and to bow his imperial will to the will of the Lord 
Jesus. The traces of suffering upon his body he counted 
as brands by which Jesus Christ had marked him as his 
own. Yet where shall we look upon a character so splen- 
did ? Under the benign influence of the lordship of Christ 
every Christian grace ripened to a surpassing beauty. 
For perfection of character, only one name do we write 
above the name of Paul — the name that is above every 
name. 

Loyalty to Jesus Christ is the need of the hour. For 
intellectual rest, for peace of heart, for guidance in duty, 
for enrichment of character, for motive and inspiration 
in the service of man, for bringing in the kingdom of 
God, the Christian must, with emphasis and deep devo- 
tion, salute Jesus as his Master and Lord. 

Before the toiling, sinning, suffering men of our day 
stands Jesus, as of old, and in the tenderness of love he 
invites them to the rest and peace of bearing his yoke. 

" Oh ! may our willing hearts confess 
Thy sweet, thy gentle sway ; 
Glad captives of thy matchless grace, 
Thy righteous rule obey ! " 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 

BY REV. JOSEPH R. WILSON, D. D. 



" It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. 
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." 
— Psalm cxviii. 8, g. 

IT is not meant that no man at all is to be at all trusted, 
that everybody is unworthy of confidence on the part 
of anybody, for such is not the truth. Men do, and 
ought to, have confidence in one another, not only, but 
must have, or society itself would fall to pieces, and each 
person (if he could think life to be worth having on such 
terms) would be compelled to live fenced around by 
walls of gloom resembling those of a grave. This earth 
would be an absolutely intolerable abode were there 
no play of mutual confidence. No doubt there are per- 
sons here and there who know little or nothing of the 
experience of a confiding disposition — who go through 
their ice-clad lives, from one frozen day to another, 
without finding, or caring to find, a single human being 
on whom to lean, self-poised and self-sufficing, who 
long for no friendship and yearn for no love. Why, even 
the wild animals must have their co-helpers and their 
alliances of mutual trust. The lion seldom hunts alone ; 
the tiger is most defiant of danger when he has a com- 
panion near. It would seem that where there is intelli- 
gence, to any degree, whether in man or beast, there 
also is a feeling of dependence, and in this feeling is 
imbedded the principle of confidence. It is only the 
insane who wish to be always by themselves. 
364 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 365 

Far from God, therefore, we must conclude, is the pur- 
pose to forbid the trust which one person places in 
another, and which he cannot but place so long as he 
retains his sanity, or so long as he remains true to the 
very make-up of his being. This natural interchanging 
of trust is in obedience to one of his own laws, a law 
impressed as deeply upon our individual and social man- 
hood as is the law of gravitation upon the material uni- 
verse. The great Lord simply tells us that it is " better'''' 
to trust in him than in men, or in the princes of men ; 
not that it is a bad and a wrong thing — our mutual con- 
fidence — no, it is a good and a right thing ; but there is 
that which, in the comparison, is "better." He would 
not have us to cease trusting whatsoever creature deserves 
to be trusted, but would have us not to stop in this, as if 
thus we had reached the highest point to which we are 
capable of climbing in the same direction, and which we 
all are bound to reach if we would trust in a manner 
worthy of the nature God has given us, and unto the 
finest and noblest results. 

The truth is, that, in yielding to the promptings of our 
implanted principle of trust, we are apt to go too far. 
We are apt to trust each other, not too little, but too 
much; i. e., we are prone to expect too great a benefit 
from the trust that terminates upon the mere creature. 
That benefit is, indeed, considerable — often a very large 
source out of which a heartfelt gratitude should songfully 
spring; it may, however, be easily overestimated ; for, 
always — yes, always — there is an element of disappoint- 
ment in the most rewardful confidence that one human be- 
ing ever placed in another — something being still lacking 
to render the satisfaction complete. In other words, no 
person can ever do for another person all that is wanted. 
Take even that instance of trust which is, perhaps, the 



366 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

purest, and the fullest of heart-ease, the instinctive trust 
of a little child in its mother. However trustful the 
trusting child, and however deserving of it the trusted 
parent, there is many an ache of this child's affections 
which lies beyond the most soothing touch of the most 
sympathizing mother ; achings which it is compelled to 
sob out upon its lonely pillow in tears which can give 
no account of themselves to the very fondest of maternal 
coaxing — tears which thereby declare their need of a 
hand to dry them up which the whole world does not 
extend any one, the hand that tells of his presence whose 
love is beyond a mother's, and "better" than hers. 

And it is just the same around the entire circle of hu- 
man trust where it touches alone upon a human object. 
It is a trust that is always a more or less defeated trust ; 
is thrown back upon itself, having, at this point or at 
that, missed its mark. 

There are, indeed, many matters in which men do not 
vainly trust each other, the trusters getting all they ex- 
pected from the trusted. You may trust a neighbor with 
portions of your property and find him true to your con- 
fidence. You may safely trust him not to lie when you 
are in want of his testimony. In a hundred supposable 
cases you can securely trust ; can even sometimes go so 
far as to trust another to play with your very heart- 
strings, as is done every day where love exchanges itself 
for corresponding love, or for the promise of it ; and yet 
you may, in all this, not have to regret what you have done. 
But your trust will be disappointed if you expect to get 
from man — be he ever so faithful, be he ever so honor- 
able, be he ever so eminent for trustworthiness, be he 
ever so large in resources — all that your soul desires. 
You, perhaps, get the whole which that man is able to 
give ; but there are some things which he cannot give, 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 367 

however loudly, however honestly even, he may promise 
them. He is not competent, for example, to give you 
happiness— not even that amount of happiness you have 
thought that he was in a condition to bestow, and which 
he himself believed that he was. Wives and husbands, 
to take an extreme instance, trust each other for happi- 
ness, as they ought to do, thinking that they have only 
to draw upon the rich treasures of their mutual affection 
for as much as they can want. Well, do they always 
get it? Is there not a drawback, sometimes nameless, 
yet real and felt ? Is there not often an ache like that of 
the child, which no quantity or quality of human love, 
even the most assiduous and most self-sacrificing, can 
soothe — an ache which belongs to the soul's own inde- 
pendent and unapproachable individuality, and which, ac- 
cordingly, it must just learn to endure, unless, indeed, it 
is at liberty to resort to a far higher and far choicer foun- 
tain of good than any that is filled from an earthly source ? 
Or take the instance of one who trusts another in a 
partnership whose object is to acquire wealth, and at the 
same time cement a friendship which has already stood 
the test of years. This chosen partner is all right; he 
discharges his whole duty ; his undivided talent, is de- 
voted to the business ; there is nothing about him which 
is not completely satisfying. The result is, ever-increas- 
ing riches. And yet, somehow, you are now and again 
forced to feel that he has not done all that you had ex- 
pected of him. You have his utmost help, and still his 
help has not conferred happiness, even though it has 
brought wealth. You do not blame him ; you are even 
sure that he is not at fault ; nay, you are certain that the 
greater share of your success is what he has achieved. 
So far you have not trusted in vain; but, then, you 
trusted him for something more, which it was not in his 



368 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

power to bestow w r ith all his other bestowments ; you 
trusted that in his many helpings towards accumulations 
of property he would also add to it more and more peace 
of mind, or that both of you together would' do this, for 
in this respect you trusted not only his capability, but 
also your own; and he has not disappointed you any 
more than you have disappointed yourself or disap- 
pointed him. The gold is there, but not the good you 
had thought w r as in it. There is still a void unfilled. 
The partnership has proved a failure on the highest 
ground of all — the ground where contentment ought to 
be awaiting your summons. No neighbor is richer than 
you in merchandise and money, but many a neighbor 
may not be so poor in the matter of that true treasure, 
heart-sunshine, the one only thing that was worth your 
partner's trouble and your own to gain and to lay up. 

So the ambitious man trusts to the people to lift him 
into eminence of position. They raise him as high as he 
washed, higher even than once he had dreamed. They 
lavish upon him their honors and their stations. They 
place him at the very top. He is grateful ; but, as he 
quaffs the bowl of their laudations, he by-and-by becomes 
conscious of a want that he had fondly hoped would also 
be met in the wine-taste of his gratified desires. Eleva- 
tion has not made him happy ; it has only made him cold 
and lonely, and envied — maybe hated — by some. The 
people had not that to give which comes exclusively 
from a satisfied mind, a mind restful, as on a rock of se- 
curity; and, this being absent, all the rest resembles 
ashes. He evidently needs to go to a source of power 
higher still. People and princes can confer many favors 
upon those whom they greatly regard, and who know 
how to trust or to court them ; but they cannot confer 
that smile which lights up the living-room of the soul, 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 369 

where the man is at home with his own thoughts, and 
where he holds converse with his immortality; and if 
that room remains dark, no lamps burning in any or in 
all of the other rooms can suffice to illumine the great 
house. 

In what has thus been suggested, I have referred you 
alone to the fact that, for many of the things which are 
considered desirable, you have good reason to trust your 
fellow-man. Shall I now, however, turn the picture, 
and refer you to another and quite opposite fact, the fact 
that your fellow-man often deceives you, even when you 
trust him for such common assistances and even for such 
mere courtesies as every one needs from those with whom 
he mingles? In how many of your acquaintances, in 
how many of your so called friends, may you confidently 
trust when you are in actual want either of their sym- 
pathy or of their helping hand ? How long would it take 
you to count the number of such as seem trustworthy 
when all is prospering with you, but the shallowness of 
whose assurances of good-will is discovered when a 
' ' friend in need would be a friend indeed ' ' ? Let the 
broken and scattered hopes of a too-confiding inexperience, 
the world over, answer the mournful question. I am not 
disposed to view with a gloomy eye the world about me, 
nor should any of you be so disposed. It becomes us 
all, on the contrary, to look with as cheerful an aspect as 
possible upon the characters and conduct of the members 
of the common family to which we all belong, to the 
very meanest member of which we are all related by a 
blood which is as old as the creation, and multitudes of 
whom are far better than ourselves. But, it cannot be 
denied, even by one who gives the utmost possible credit 
to the fair intentions and the fine words of his brother- 
sinners, that their promises are often larger than their 
24 



37° SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

performances, and that the man who acts upon a con- 
trary belief must at some critical hours of his life pay 
the penalty of his faith in not a few grievous disap- 
pointments. In truth, is not the whole earth a scene, 
throughout, of the war which men are waging with 
men because of the ill-starred trusts they mistakenly 
place in each other? How largely, how variously, how 
distressfully could this be illustrated, were the unplea- 
sant task a necessary one ! Your courts of justice are 
full of the evidences of the fact. Every person knows 
it in many a bitter experience, or may too easily learn 
the sad lesson from what others are able to tell him of 
their experience. On every account, therefore, is it not 
1 ' better ' ' to trust in the Lord than to trust in any man ? 
and for the reasons I have given : no such earthly trust 
brings a steadfast happiness, and such happiness is what 
we all are pursuing — rightly pursuing, too. Only, let 
us learn what true happiness is, in what it consists, and 
we are at full liberty to secure it if we can, God himself 
being the approving witness of our efforts. But now 
the question arises, even on the part of those who think 
they do know what happiness is, does God make happy 
those who trust in him? I confess that it does not 
always look as if he did. It must be acknowledged that 
he leaves many of his trusters poor and forlorn, tossed 
and torn ; and that there is not one of them, however 
favored in a worldly point of view, who does not have 
reason, daily, to shed tears of more or less racking grief, 
or utter groans of more or less remorseful sorrow. You 
cannot listen to their public prayers or their private peti- 
tionings without feeling convinced that they have that to 
cause them unhappiness of which even the trusters in 
man know nothing, and at which they sometimes are 
constrained to wonder. How, then, can it be said that 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 371 

it is "better" to trust in the Lord? Well, were there 
no other answer to such a question, might we not wisely 
rest the whole matter on this : He has said so, and does 
he not know f Is not the entire history of our race open to 
his view as it cannot be to our own ? and has he not seen 
the long result of such trusting as man places in his 
fellow-man when there was also no higher person in which 
he confided? Does God need to be told of that weak- 
ness in man which causes him, even in his best estate, 
to be as a broken reed to whomsoever, with his whole 
weight, leans upon him ; does he need to be told of one 
man's treache^ to another, of the selfishness which 
everywhere reveals itself in the intercourse of life, of the 
meanness which gets all it can whilst giving only as little 
as it may, of the inhumanity, even, which pushes de- 
pendence to the wall when it would trust to the stronger 
but dare not? And is not God so far acquainted with 
what he himself is as to know that he at least is a fit ob- 
ject of man's trust, being so full of mercy, so full of 
might, so full of truth, so full of wisdom, so full of 
tenderness ? We may well, therefore, take his word for it 
that we had better repose our trust in him than even in 
the princes of men, who, to say the most, are as frail as 
others, and who, to say the least, are as false. 

But, then, where is the Jiappiness of trusting in him? is 
a question still to be asked. Why, it is found in the very 
act of our trust itself. For what is happiness ? It is not 
a thing which you can see, or handle, or get into your 
embrace. It is not what you may Jiave, it is what you 
are. You do not need to go one step out of yourself for 
it. Gold does not contain it. Pleasures do not conduct 
to it. Fortune-building does not construct it. Industry 
does not collect it. It is a possession of the soul, or, 
rather, is the soul possessing itself. It is a principle 



372 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

and a power within, where no outward circumstances 
can intrude to place a destructive hand upon it ; a lighted 
candle at the centre of us, which no wind can blow out. 
It is being what we ought to be, right with ourselves and 
right with our God ; a rightness that shall last, therefore, 
so long as the soul shall last, that is, so long as God 
shall last. Out of such rightness, planted as it is in our 
very immortality, springs happiness, in the just sense of 
that much-used and much-abused word. And it is to 
bring about this supreme rightness that we are exhorted 
to put our trust in the Lord, which is altogether the 
same as exhorting us to love him ; for, otherwise, to trust 
him were impossible, love being, indeed, only another 
word for confidence. It may, then, be said, with an as- 
surance which nothing can gainsay, that they who thus 
love God are they who are right, in the very deepest 
meaning of the term ; right at the core of their being ; 
right as the saints and as the angels are. But, whilst 
this is true, it is also true that his children's trustful 
love is not yet complete ; and it is because of their strug- 
gles and of their Father's discipline to make it complete 
that they experience most of the sorrows to which I have 
referred ; sorrows which are themselves more to be de- 
sired than the raptures of the world. They trust, but do 
not trust perfectly, and will not until they see him as he 
is, in the home towards which they climb. In thus climb- 
ing, however, they needs must suffer, for the hill is high, 
and it is both steep and rugged, where progress is as- 
sured only at the expense of toil and trouble. Neverthe- 
less, with all that it costs, it is "better to trust in the 
Lord than to put confidence in man " ; for so great a 
trust must have a correspondingly great issue; so su- 
preme a trust must have a correspondingly supreme re- 
ward. It is trusting in a word that never was broken, 



TRUST IN THE LORD. 373 

and which nothing can ever break; in a wisdom that 
never was baffled, and which nothing can ever baffle ; in 
a watchfulness that never has been thrown off its guard, 
and which nothing can ever throw off its guard ; in a will 
whose decrees of good have ever been, and must always 
be, sovereign ; and in a welfare that is as certain as eter- 
nity. It is trusting in him who has proved himself the 
one Friend of the friendless, the one Father of the father- 
less, the one who is faithful when all others are faithless. 
It is trusting the only Being who can destroy for us our 
sins, and dry up for us our sorrows, and bestow upon 
us a salvation compared with which the utmost blessed- 
ness of earth is as a dying lamp to the living sun. It is 
trusting for peace of heart whilst living, for strength of 
heart when expiring, and for wealth of heart when the 
treasures of heaven burst upon the view. It is trusting 
unto holiness, the fountain of happiness. It is trusting 
God, as God is in Christ, which says all in one ex- 
haustless word. 



NOT ONE FORGOTTEN. 

BY REV. T. D. W1THERSPOON, D. D., 

Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, Louisville 

Theological Seminary. 



"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of 
them is forgotten before God?" — LuKExii. 6. 

THE thought of a particular providence, minute as 
to its details and special as to its ends, embracing 
all the creatures of God, however lowly, and all 
their actions, however insignificant, linking all in a sin- 
gle chain of divine prevision and control, is one of which 
men have never been able altogether to divest them- 
selves, but to which they have been strangely reluctant 
to give full and hearty assent. 

Of the causes that have operated to produce a latent 
and lingering skepticism in reference to a doctrine so 
consonant to reason and so comforting to the servant of 
God, there seem to be two particularly deserving of at- 
tention. 

The first is the apparent insignificance of this world of 
ours when considered as a part of the measureless uni- 
verse of God, and the consequent improbability that, 
amidst these vast myriads of worlds with their teeming 
millions of inhabitants, the Almighty Ruler should con- 
descend to busy himself with the minute relations and 
infinitesimal concerns of all the creatures upon the earth. 

The second is the apparent irregularity in the opera- 
tion and enforcement of the moral law in the economy 
of nature, as contrasted with the invariable sequence of 
374 



NOT ONE FORGOTTEN. 



375 



those laws that are purely mechanical and physical; a 
state of things which we would by no means expect if 
the hand of the great moral Ruler is in all the events of 
time. 

These two causes have operated in all ages to produce 
skepticism in reference to the overruling providence of 
God. Thus it was in the days of the patriarch Job. 
"Behold," says Eliphaz the Temanite (Job xxii. 12), 
"is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the 
height of the stars, how high they are! And thou say- 
est, How doth God know? Can he judge through the 
dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that 
he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven." 
And so, as to the second cause, Job says (chapter xxi. 7, 
etc.), "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, 
are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their 
sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. 
Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of 

God upon them One dieth in his full strength, 

being wholly at ease and quiet. . . . And another dieth 
in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleas- 
ure. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the 
worms shall cover them." 

And so, to make one further quotation, we have the 
same protest in the days of Solomon against the doctrine 
of a particular providence, the ground of protest being 
the chequered nature of human life, and the apparent in- 
equality in the distribution of punishments and rewards. 
"All things" (Eccl. ix. 2) "come alike to all: there is 
one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the 
good and to the clean and to the unclean ; to him that 
sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the 
good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth as he that 
feareth an oath." 



376 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

Nor have these difficulties in the way of a firm faith 
in God's overruling providence at all diminished since 
the days of Job and of Solomon. On the contrary, as 
science has pressed her investigations and has extended 
her domain, we have gained conceptions of the magni- 
tude of the universe and the comparative insignificance 
of our globe to which the men of Solomon's time were 
utter strangers. So, too, as the ages have advanced, the 
evil principles of the world have more and more devel- 
oped in antagonism to the good. They have aggregated 
to themselves more and more power. Their votaries 
have become more and more skillful in the oppression of 
the right. In this day of vast moneyed corporations and 
consolidations of capital and labor, it is even more true 
than in former times, that "these are the ungodly that 
prosper in the world, ' ' and that ' ' no man knoweth either 
love or hatred by all that is before him." 

But, amidst all the confusion and disorder incident to 
a state of things like this, it is the great joy of the 
Christian heart to rest in the doctrine of the overruling 
providence of God, which is so clearly taught in his holy 
word; to think of the little sparrows, five of which 
brought less than a cent in the markets of the world in 
our Lord's day, and to remember that " not one of them 
is forgotten before God. ' ' 

Let us, then, as we look out upon the unknown fu- 
ture — many of us with thoughtful solicitude ; some of us, 
it may be, with anxious forebodings — bathe our spirits 
for a little while in the sweet thought of the text, ' ' not 
one of them is forgotten before God." 

I. And first let me say that this is the view of the 
providence of God presented all through the Scriptures ; 
not simply that of a general superintendence under vague 
and indefinite laws of nature, but a minute and detailed 



NOT ONE FORGOTTEN. 377 

personal supervision, a particular and definite personal 
control, extending to the least as well as to the greatest 
works of his hand. Many persons are willing to admit 
that the hand of God is in the great events of nature and 
of human history. When the pestilence is on the air 
and thousands are falling victims, when some great 
earthquake has engulphed cities, or some furious tempest 
at sea has carried down strong ships with their hardy 
seamen and their terror-stricken passengers, there are 
few who believe in a God at all who do not recognize 
his hand, and say, ' ' Surely God is here. ' ' But that the 
God who kindled the blaze of the sun supplies also the 
glow-worm's lamp ; that he who ' ' rides upon the stormy 
wind ' ' fans also the cheek of the invalid with the gen- 
tle zephyr's breath; that he who upholds the stars in 
their courses guides also the sparrow in its flight ; these 
are the things reckoned incapable of belief. And yet 
the Scriptures do not more clearly teach the one than 
the other. Its language on this point cannot be mis- 
taken. Turn to whatever part you will, and you will 
find this truth everywhere expressed, believed, acted 
upon, that the hand of God is as truly in the least as in 
the greatest ; nothing so obscure as to escape his notice, 
nothing so trivial as to lie outside the schemes of his 
providence, and the purposes of his will. 

Let us hear the testimony of Elihu (Job xxxvi. 27, 
etc. ) : " He maketh small the drops of water : which the 
clouds do drop upon man abundantly." "With clouds 
he covereth the light ; and commandeth it not to shine." 
"God thundereth marvelously' with his voice." "He 
saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth ; likewise to the 
small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. " "By 
the breath of God frost is given ; and the breadth of the 
waters is straitened." " He scattereth his bright cloud, 



378 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

and it is turned round about by his counsels, that they 
may do whatsoever he commandeth." He causeth "it 
to rain on the earth where no man is, to satisfy the deso- 
late and waste ground ; and to cause the bud of the 
tender herb to spring forth." He " sendeth lightnings, 
that they may go and say unto him, Here we are." 
He "stayeth the bottles of the heaven when the dust 
groweth into hardness and the clods cleave fast together. ' ' 
He " hunteth the prey for the lion, and provideth for the 
raven his food." 

Let us hear what the PsalmisL says (Psalm lxv. 9, etc.): 
"Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly 
enrichest it," etc. Psalm civ. 14, etc.: "He causeth 
the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service 
of man." "Thou makest darkness, and it is night: 
wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The 
young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat 
from God. " " These wait all upon thee. " " That thou 
givest them they gather : thou openest thine hand, they 
are filled with good. ' ' But why multiply passages. The 
Old Testament is filled with these statements of the uni- 
versality and the minuteness of the providence of God. 

Let us turn for a moment to the declarations of our 
Lord: "Behold" (Matt. vi. 26, etc.) "the fowls of the 
air : for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into 
barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. " " Con- 
sider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil 
not, neither do they spin : and yet I say unto you, That 
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 
one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of 
the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the 
oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little 
faith ? ' ' And so in the passage before us : ' 'Are not five 
sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is 



. NOT ONE FORGOTTEN. 379 

forgotten before God." Or, as Matthew has it, "One 
of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father ; 
for even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ' ' 

It is evident, then, that if the plain meaning of these 
passages be taken, we must believe that the providence 
of God is in the little things as well as in the great. 
And when we consider how precious and comforting 
such a doctrine is, does it not seem strange that men 
should endeavor to persuade themselves to believe that 
when our Saviour says, " not one of them is forgotten 
before God," he really does not mean it? and that when 
he says, "the hairs of your head are all numbered," he 
is speaking in hyperbole? 

II. But this skepticism in reference to the minuteness 
of God's providence rests upon two assumptions, each 
of which is altogether untenable. The first is, that 
objects and events sustain to each other in the mind of 
God the same relative dignity and importance that they 
do in ours ; so that what are great and important in our 
eyes are so in his, and what are puny and insignificant 
in our view are so in the view of God. We are prone to 
forget that nothing finite can in itself appear great or 
important in the sight of God. There is such an infinite 
disproportion in the scale on which his being is projected 
and that which appertains to all created things, that the 
distinctions of great and small do not apply. As one 
who climbs some lofty mountain and looks down on the 
plain beneath sees not the inequalities of the surface, 
but looks upon it as upon a map with even face lying 
before him, so from the height of God's infinite perfec- 
tion he looks down and there is nothing in itself great in 
his sight. All things take their relative magnitude and 
importance from their relations to him, to the fulfilment 
of his purposes, and the manifestation of his glory. The 



380 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

things, therefore, which seem least to us may seem 
greatest to him. There is an element of power that 
enters into our conception of the sublime, so that things 
are grand and impressive in our view as they reveal a 
power that overawes us by its superiority to our own. 
The roar of Niagara, the thunder of the ocean in a storm, 
the wild sweep of the tornado, and the sullen moan of 
the earthquake, seem great to us by comparison with 
our own impotency, but they are not so to God. The 
overthrow of a kingdom, the crumbling of a throne, the 
conflagration of a world, are, in his view and in com- 
parison with his power, but as the falling of a leaf or the 
withering of the grass under the summer's sun. 

The second false assumption is, that there may be 
such dissociation of the great things and the small things 
that the former may be directed and controlled without 
attention to the latter. No great event has ever yet oc- 
curred to which a number of minute and apparently in- 
significant events have not stood in such relation of cause 
and condition that the great event could only be brought 
about by close attention to these apparently trivial ones. 
The little things are the pivots upon which the great 
ones turn. As the whole machinery of a watch will 
come to a standstill if one of the almost-invisible jewels 
be dislodged, or if a grain of dust adhere to one of the 
thousand tiny cogs in its various attachments, so, if one 
of these minute events should go awry, the whole order 
and course of providence would be arrested or disturbed. 
I stood, not a great while ago, looking at a splendid 
locomotive about to be put upon its trial-trip. The en- 
gineer, proud of his beautiful engine, at a signal from 
the conductor, placed his hand upon the lever and ap- 
plied the steam. But, though there was a quiver, as if 
every nerve of the iron horse were strung to its utmost 



NOT ONE FORGOTTEN. 38 1 

tension, there was no motion of the great wheels. A 
second time the lever was applied, but with the same 
result. Then the quick eye of the engineer detected the 
cause. A single thumb-screw had been insufficiently 
turned. There was but the light touch of the fingers 
upon it, and again the steam was applied, and the train 
moved gracefully away. These little things which men 
think beneath our heavenly Father's notice, what are 
they but the valve-screws of the great engine ? What 
but the cogs and jewels of that secret mechanism which 
causes the hands of all human destiny to move upon the 
dial-plate of time ? 

But it is time to assume that of which I am happily 
persuaded, namely, that whatever others may think of 
the doctrine of a particular providence, you, to whom I 
am now speaking, find delight in its belief, and will not 
have it wrested from you by all the specious arguments 
and haughty cavils which its enemies may employ. Let 
me, then, as we look forward to-day to the life that lies 
before us, as we seek to gird ourselves for its duties and 
responsibilities, as we take each his staff in his hand and 
go forth to its unknown vicissitudes and trials, draw for 
you some practical lessons of instruction and comfort 
from the words of the text, ' ' not one of them is forgot- 
ten before God." 

And, first, let me remind you what a sanctity it gives 
to the little things of life that God's eye is upon them, 
and that we can have fellowship with him in them. So 
much of our life is taken up with little things — things 
that do not seem to tell upon the great issues and inter- 
ests of Christ's kingdom in the world — that we are likely 
to feel as if the time spent in them is lost from the service 
of God. The mother with her little brood about her, the 
housewife with her busy cares, the merchant with all 



382 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

the inventory of his active brain, the teacher with the 
tedious routine of the class-room — one and all with the 
daily throng of little duties, little vexations, little cares — 
let us remember that not one of all these is forgotten be- 
fore God. There is a sanctity and a blessedness given 
to life when we can see God's hand in everything — in 
leaf and flower, in pebble and stone — and the dull mono- 
tony of the most humdrum life may be relieved by this 
thought of the ever-presence and sympathy of our heav- 
enly Father. 

Again, let me remind you that if not one of the least 
of these dumb creatures is forgotten before God, they 
should not fail of all due consideration and kindness from 
us. How much wanton cruelty, how much thoughtless 
neglect would be avoided, did we always keep before 
us the consideration that ' ' not one of them is forgot- 
ten before God." How this thought of our heavenly 
Father's watchful oversight and tender care binds us, as 
with a band of gold, not only to the humblest and 
poorest of our kind, but to all that vaster family whom 
his loving arms enfold, and who rest upon the bosom of 
his care. 

Thirdly, and lastly, while we know not what the 
changes or trials of coming life may be, there is one 
thing we do know, and that is, that not one of us in any 
of them shall be forgotten. However dark the pathway, 
God's eye will be upon us as we walk it ; his infinite 
arm will be about us to protect us ; his wing of love will 
overshadow us, and he will make good to us his precious 
promise, that "as our days so shall our strength be." 
And if at this hour there be in the sanctuary some child 
of adversity or bereavement, whose cup seems to be full 
to overflowing with sorrow, let me say there is comfort 
for you here. Thou, O child of affliction, art not for- 



NOT ONE FORGOTTEN. 383 

gotten. Forgotten before man thou mayest be, forsaken 
of kindred, deserted of friends, but not forgotten before 
God. His eye of love is upon thee. His pitying arms 
enfold thee. He will be with thee in all the way thou 
goest. "Fear not," is his message, "I will help thee.." 
Say, O timid one, "I will trust and not be afraid" ; for 
' ' the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the 
everlasting arms." 



THE SABBATH-DAY.* 

BY REV. W. F. V. BARTLETT, D. D., 
Pastor of the First Presbyterian dhurch, Lexington, Ky. 



"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to an- 
other, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to 
worship before me, saith the Lord." — Isaiah lxvi. 23. 

IS the Sabbath a divine institution of permanent and 
universal obligation ? Is it of God, and did God in- 
tend it for all mankind? This is the question that 
lies at the root of the present-day Sabbath controversy. 
Many are losing a sense of the sacred quality of the day. 
Many are turning it from a holy day to a holiday. Cor- 
porations are turning it from a rest-day to a work-day. 
Many who teach that it should be set apart for a rest- 
day and a day for religious purposes affirm this upon 
grounds of expediency, and not as a matter of divine re- 
quirement. In the midst of so much diversity of opin- 
ion, the question is a pertinent and an important one, Is 
the setting apart of one day in seven a divine ordinance, 
and did God intend it to be permanent and universal ? 
If it be, we should know it, and we should want to know 
it. If it be, then to speak otherwise of it, as though the 
Sabbath were a mere human arrangement, which men 
may treat as they please, is to profane it. It is to dis- 
honor God and to trample his will under our feet. It is 
a sin. Let us see what Scripture teaches on this subject. 
Certainly what Scripture requires we are bound to accept, 



* A sermon delivered before the Synod of Kentucky. 
384 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 385 

I call your attention to three separate declarations of 
the word of God, which ought to settle this matter. 
One is the account given in Genesis of the origin of the 
Sabbath ; the second is the fourth command of the deca- 
logue, and the third is the utterance of our Lord. 

These three passages, like a threefold cord that cannot 
be easily broken, contain the scriptural argument. 

In the first place, we may argue for the permanent 
and universal obligation of the Sabbath from the nature 
and date of its origin. 

In the second chapter of Genesis the first three verses 
read as follows : ' ' Thus the heavens and the earth were 
finished, and all the host of them ; and on the seventh 
day God ended his work which he had made ; . . . and 
God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because 
that in it he had rested from all his work which God 
created and made." 

These words follow upon the description given in the 
first chapter of the six days of creation. They tell us 
that God's six days' work was followed by God's resting 
on the seventh day ; and, therefore, he appointed the sev- 
enth day, or, what is the same thing, one day in seven, 
as a day for rest and a sanctified day. 

It seems to me that our whole contention is contained 
in that declaration. How any one who accepts the Bible 
as the inspired and infallible word of God can escape it, 
I do not see. What does it teach? Certainly that the 
Sabbath is a divine ordinance ; that it is not a human 
invention. It is God's arrangement; that is clear. 
God, says the record, blessed the seventh day and sanc- 
tified it. This setting apart, then, of one day in seven, 
was ordained by God. You must bear that in mind. 
You must remember that in dealing with the Sabbath 
you are not dealing with a mere human device. It is 
25 



386 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

not like a tariff bill or a lodge bill that men may quarrel 
over. It is not an enactment of the state. It is God's 
institution ; the creation of God's will and armed with 
God's sanction. As, then, God made it, no man has a 
right to unmake it. Only God can do that. But has 
God done that ? Can you point to a single passage in 
his word where he has done it? In this passage God 
distinctly says that one day in seven shall be set apart 
as a blessed and a sanctified day. Where, in all the 
pages of inspiration, from Genesis to Revelation, will 
you find any utterance of God to the contrary — that one 
day in seven shall not thus be set apart? 

But this passage not only teaches that the Sabbath is 
an ordinance of God ; it just as plainly teaches that God 
intended it to be permanent. That appears in the reason 
assigned. When a law has a temporary ground or reason 
for its enactment, its obligation will be temporary. The 
obligation to observe it will cease with the reason for 
enacting it. But where the reason of the law is perma- 
nent, the law itself will be permanent, too. Is not that 
sound logic? Apply it here. What was the divine 
reason assigned for instituting the Sabbath ? Because 
God rested after his six days' work. Is not that reason 
as good to-day as it was then ? Will it not be as valid in 
the last generation of mankind as it was in the first? 
Because God, having worked six days, rested the seventh. 
Can time change the force of that consideration ? Who 
shall dare to say, until God bid him to, that that reason 
is not as good now as it ever was ? 

And then, too, not only the permanency, but also the 
universality, of the Sabbath obligation appears in these 
words. Of what time do these words in Genesis speak? 
Is it not the time immediately following upon the crea- 
tion? Hear them again: "Thus the heavens and the 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 387 

earth were finished, and all the host of them; and on 
the seventh day God ended his work which he had 
made ; . . . and God blessed the seventh day and 
sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his 
work which God created and made." Is it not plain 
that the time referred to here is the time that followed 
directly upon completing the heavens and the earth, and 
all the host of them? Is not that the natural sense? 
Anti-Sabbatarians try to get away from that sense, but 
is not that the plain meaning? After the heavens and 
the earth, and all the host of them were finished, then it 
was that God rested on the seventh day and blessed and 
sanctified it. If that be so, the Sabbath is coeval with 
the creation. It was instituted at the beginning. It did 
not first appear in later ages. God established it at the 
outset. It was, therefore, given to all mankind; in- 
tended for the whole human family. If the Sabbath had 
first appeared among the Hebrews, in God's legislation 
for them, it might have been supposed to be intended 
only for the Jews. But here we see that it appears at 
the beginning of human history, with the very com- 
mencement of mankind ; therefore it must have been in- 
tended for mankind. Even Dr. Paley admits that. He 
says that if the divine command was actually delivered 
at the creation, it was addressed, no doubt, to the whole 
human species alike, and continues, unless repealed by 
some subsequent revelation, binding upon all who come 
to the knowledge of it. That is exactly the fact, and 
yet that admission comes from one of the strongest of 
the anti- Sabbatarians. It is an admission that contains 
the whole argument. 

The fact is that, as I read these words in Genesis, I 
cannot but feel that in them God intends to tell us that 
the principle of the Sabbath, viz., that of one day in 



388 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

seven for cessation from labor and for rest, is wrought 
into our nature and implanted in the constitution and 
laws of the universe. Men are so made, and animals 
too, that they need to have that interval to recuperate 
their wasted energies. So physiologists tell us. So ex- 
perience demonstrates. The daily nocturnal rest is not 
sufficient. The human system is like a seven-day clock. 
That is the law of our being. That is the way our na- 
ture has been created and things around us have been 
fixed. That being the case, I take these words in 
Genesis as God's announcement of that fact. They may 
be paraphrased after some such fashion as this. It is as 
if God had said to mankind, just as they were starting 
out on their world-wide career : "I have just got through 
the work of creation ; you are now about to commence 
your course. There are some things you must at once 
understand. One is, that in creating your nature and 
things around you, I have fixed it that one day in seven 
must be set apart as a rest day. I have also constituted 
it to be a blessed day and a sanctified day. It is so 
woven into the constitution of your being. It is the law 
of your nature. Be sure to keep it in mind and observe it. 
For if you do not, the economy of your well-being will 
be disturbed. Your body will suffer; your mind, your 
heart, every part of your nature, will suffer. It is abso- 
lutely necessary, if you want to rise to your best and 
noblest development." That is the way I would read 
these words in Genesis. When read that way, it is ap- 
parent that the Sabbath was intended to be permanent 
and universal; for if it be a law implanted in our na- 
ture, then that law can never be abrogated until our 
nature has been re-created. 

These statements may be confirmed and illustrated by 
the case of marriage. In the same chapter of Genesis 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 389 

we read : ' ' God said, It is not good that the man should 

be alone. I will make him a help meet for him 

And they shall be one flesh." That is the law of mar- 
riage, one man and one woman, man's helpmeet, and 
both together a unity. That law is woven into our na- 
ture. It is not an arbitrary enactment in such a sense 
that any other arrangement would answer just as well. 
We are made and constituted that way. When, then, 
God said, It is not good for man to be alone, he needs a 
woman for helpmeet, and the two shall be one flesh, he 
was not enacting a law, he was simply enunciating the 
law of our nature, telling us how we were made, what 
must be the order of our life in the sexual relation for 
our best development. Exactly the same is true of the 
Sabbath. The fact is, that marriage and the Sabbath are 
twin institutions. They are both coeval with creation. 
They both stand at the commencement of the world's 
history. They both indicate the order and constitution 
of our nature. They are not like paper laws, not like 
the enactments on our statute-books, but they are set in 
our very being, like as gravitation is set in the orbs of 
the sky. They are written all over our bodies and our 
minds. They are the lines in which our nature is ap- 
pointed to act — just as there are certain lines in which 
the rose bush matures into the flower, or the fig tree or 
the orange into the luscious fruit. They are so wrought 
into our being that marriage lies at the root of our earthly 
welfare, and the Sabbath at the root of our spiritual and 
eternal welfare. This is so true, that if marriage, which 
the enemies of mankind want to destroy, and the Sab- 
bath, which the enemies of God wane to destroy, were 
got rid of, all order would be upset and the world be 
turned into a pandemonium . So true is this, that always 
wherever the law of marriage and the law of Sabbath 



390 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

have been most faithfully observed the nations have 
been most mighty and prosperous. You see, then, that 
in the nature of the case, the Sabbath was designed to be 
a permanent and universal institution. If, like marriage, 
it is fixed in man's nature, and woven into the constitu- 
tion and order of things, even God himself could not 
do away with it without making our nature all over 
again. 

Our second argument is based upon the fourth com- 
mandment. The presence of this command among those 
delivered on the top of Sinai, when properly understood, 
is proof of the universal and permanent obligation of the 
Sabbath. 

What was the first thing God did after the creation 
was finished, and before the human race had started 
upon its historical career? It was to announce the law 
of the Sabbath. What was the first thing God did when 
he took a people from out the world which had wickedly 
departed from him, and before he started them on their 
national career? It was to revive and reinforce the law 
of the Sabbath. Does that look as if God intended the 
institution of the Sabbath to pass out of existence ? 

It is sometimes said that because the fourth command- 
ment was addressed to the Jews, it was designed only 
for the Jews. But why is not that said of the first, or 
the second, or the third, or any of the others? Why 
should that be said only of the fourth ? Why fasten ob- 
jection on that one alone, and not make the same asser- 
tion as to the other nine ? 

There are three things that ought to correct such a 
notion. One is the word "Remember." "Remember 
the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. ' ' Did it ever occur to 
you that that is a very remarkable word to put at the 
beginning of a law ? No other law in the decalogue be- 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 39I 

gins with such a word. No other law in the Bible be- 
gins with such a word. I do not know that any law on 
our statute-books begins with such a word. Why, then, 
does the fourth commandment begin with that word? 
Because God having established the Sabbath in the be- 
ginning, and the world having forgotten it, God is charg- 
ing the people whom he had taken out of the world to 
be his peculiar people to remember it. His people must 
not do With the old Sabbath ordinance, which had come 
down from the beginning, what the world had done with 
it — forget it; they must remember it. It is as if God 
had said : "I am now giving you a code of laws lying at 
the foundation of all individual and national prosperity. 
They are laws that are set in the nature of things. No 
nation can attain to real and lasting greatness without 
them. In selecting you to be my peculiar people, I an- 
nounce them to you. The other nations, who will have 
nothing to do with me, I leave to themselves. They 
have got to learn, by rough experience, that in depart- 
ing from my statutes they have deserted the way of hap- 
piness and power. The ten commandments are the way. 
There is, there can be, no other way. Among them is 
the law of the Sabbath. Be sure to remember that. The 
other nations have forgotten it, and so must suffer the 
consequence. Do not be like them. Remember it. Not 
only your greatest power and prosperity, but even your 
existence, is interwoven with its remembrance." I take 
that to be the meaning of that remarkable word. A pro- 
per understanding, then, of that word shows how false 
is the idea that the Sabbath was intended only for the 
Jews. 

A second thing is, because it is not found among the 
ceremonial regulations of the Hebrew commonwealth. 
Had it been put there, the opinion that it was intended 



392 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

only for the Jews might have had some force. When 
those ceremonial rules passed away, it would have passed 
away, too. But, instead of being among the ceremonial 
regulations, it is in the decalogue, and one of its princi- 
pal precepts. It belongs to the ten commandments, 
which the ceremonial arrangement did not. It is one of 
the longest of the ten commandments, one of the most 
conspicuous of them, one of the most strongly empha- 
sized of them. Like the other nine, it was spoken by 
the mouth of Jehovah, amid the awful solemnities of 
Sinai. Like the other nine, it was engraven on stone, as 
a symbol of perpetuity. Like the other nine, it was laid 
in the ark of the covenant. It occupies so important a 
place in the series as to come before the commands against 
filial disobedience, against theft, murder, adultery, covet- 
ousness, and the like. Is it possible that God could have 
associated it so closely with the other nine, confessedly 
intended to be permanent and universal, and have given 
it such a conspicuous and prominent place amongst them, 
if he had not intended it to be permanent and universal 
too? Is he a God of confusion? Is he not a God of 
order ? 

The third thing is, because the fourth commandment 
is the keystone of the arch. Take that away, and all the 
others will soon fall to the ground. How long would 
men remember the first command, to have no other gods 
before Jehovah ; or the second, not to worship idol im- 
ages ; or the third, not to profane the holy name, if one 
day in seven were not set apart for them to learn of God 
and to worship him? Even as it is, how ignorant and 
careless men become in relation to their duties towards 
God ! Or how long would it be before men would cease 
to honor and obey their parents, and fall into crime, if 
this day were abolished? Take away the fourth com- 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 393 

mand, and you will break down all the others. Do yon 
doubt this? See, then, the atheism, the vice, the crime, 
the lack of filial honor, the weakening of family ties, the 
robberies, the murders, the rapes, multiplying on every 
side of us at the very time men are being taught that the 
Sabbath is no longer of divine obligation. In the his- 
tory of our country there has never been the amount of 
criminality of every sort that exists now ; in the history 
of our country there has never been a time when the 
Sabbath has been so neglected and ignored. Do you not 
see how the two things go together? This is according 
to the observation of the great men who sit on the watch- 
towers of the world. Blackstone says : "A corruption of 
morals usually follows a profanation of the Sabbath. ' ' 

Prideaux says : " It is not to be doubted that, if the 
Sabbath were dropped from amongst us, the generality 
of the people, whatever else might be done to obviate it, 
would, in a few years, relapse into as bad a state of bar- 
barism as was ever in practice among the worst of our 
Danish or Saxon ancestors." 

Does that seem too strong ? Then you know but little 
about the history of criminology, and of communities 
and nations. Let the Sabbath be devoutly observed, 
and the other commands will be observed too. Let the 
Sabbath be habitually profaned, the other commands 
will be disobeyed too. Break down that one command, 
and all the others will soon follow. Suppose the Sab- 
bath were observed all over our State; among our moun- 
tains, in our valleys, and in every part of the State ; do 
you imagine that we should have the lawlessness and 
disorder that now darken and blacken the civilization of 
this commonwealth ? Therefore it is that God put it in 
the middle of the decalogue; and its presence there 
ought to convince every right-minded person what the 



394 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

significance is that God attaches to it, and what his pur- 
pose was in framing it. 

But we may go further, and, in the last place, argue 
for the universal and perpetual obligation of the Sab- 
bath from the direct utterances of our Lord. Strange that 
persons who will have nothing to do with the Old Testa- 
ment suppose that in giving that up the Sabbath goes 
with it. Hear what our Lord says : " The Sabbath was 
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore 
the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Could 
there be a clearer recognition of the Sabbath than that, 
or a stronger authentication of it? Do you not see that 
in these words our Lord is doing just what was done at 
the creation and upon the organization of the Hebrew 
commonwealth? At the creation, as the human race 
was starting out on its historical career, God ordained 
the Sabbath. At the organization of the Hebrew com- 
monwealth, when God is starting his peculiar people out 
on their national career, he re -ordains the Sabbath. At 
the inception of Christ's kingdom, when our Lord is 
starting it out on its world-wide mission, he takes up 
the Sabbath again, and makes it one of his institutions. 
He does not annul it. He does not ignore it. What he 
does is to remove the errors and corruptions grown 
around it, and exhibit it in its true nature. He claims 
it as his institution, invests it with his authority, and 
constitutes it a vital part of his kingdom. Mark his 
words : "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man 
for the Sabbath : therefore the Son of man is Lord also of 
the Sabbath." What do these words mean? I think 
the key to them is found in that little word "also." 
The idea is this, that the Son of man was made Lord of 
the Sabbath because the Sabbath was made for man. 
Let us expand this statement. You will observe that we 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 395 

have a syllogism here, with the major premise omitted. 
The full syllogism might be expressed as follows: The 
Son of man is Lord of everything intended for man and 
for man's good; but the Sabbath was intended for man 
and man's good; therefore the Son of man is made 
Lord also of the Sabbath. 

Now, with that syllogism before your eyes, you can 
arrive at our Lord's exact meaning in these words. He 
is talking to the Pharisees. He is telling them that they 
have perverted the real meaning of the Sabbath. You 
have supposed he would say to them that God originally 
gave that day to you as a peculiarly Jewish institution. 
As such, you have supposed that it should be observed 
in a peculiarly Jewish way. But you are mistaken. It 
is not a peculiarly Jewish institution at all. God origi- 
nally made it for man — for all men ; not for you alone, 
but for man universally, and made it for man's good. 
' ' But you have perverted it from this purpose ; you have 
made it a Jewish day ; you have made it a hard day ; you 
have turned it into a day that, instead of doing good, 
brings harm and evil. Well, now, as everything that 
pertains to man and man's welfare has been put into my 
hands, so I have been given charge of the Sabbath; and 
I have been given charge of it that I might recover it 
from your perversion of it, and see to it that its original 
purpose of being made a blessing to mankind is carried 
out." 

That, I understand to be the meaning of these words, 
a 'meaning so plain that I wonder anybody could have 
missed it. Do you not see, then, that in these words 
there is no intention on the part of our Lord to weaken, 
by a hair's breadth, the obligation of the Sabbath ; that, 
on the contrary, his purpose is to confirm and strengthen 
it; nay, more than that, to liberate it from its Jewish 



396 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

limitations and restore it to its original universality? 
Do not his words plainly teach that, instead of its being 
iess true under the gospel that the Sabbath is an institu- 
tion of universal and permanent obligation, it is more 
true now than ever before? And is not this exactly 
what the ancient prophet predicted in our text, when, 
in speaking of Christian times, he said that " From one 
Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before 
me, saith the Lord ' ' ? 

With two brief remarks your patience shall be relieved. 

One is, that while Scripture teaches that the Sabbath 
is a divine ordinance of perpetual and universal obliga- 
tion, it does not identify it with any particular day of the 
week. It does not command its observance on Saturday 
or Sunday or any other day of the week. What the 
ordinance exactly says is, that God blessed the seventh 
day and sanctified it, but what day is to be regarded as 
the seventh day is nowhere indicated in the command. 
The reason is plain. It is because it is a matter of indif- 
ference which day of the week is taken, if so be that one- 
seventh of our time is given to that purpose. Under the 
old Hebrew dispensation, Saturday was the day observed, 
although it may be doubted whether that was the day 
appointed at the beginning. Since our Lord ascended, 
Sunday is the day that is taken. It is easy to under- 
stand why the change should have been made. 

Why was Saturday preferred as the day for the Sab- 
bath under the Jewish dispensation ? Because that day 
was the day which commemorated the deliverance of the 
chosen people from Egypt (their deliverance, it is thought 
by scholars, being accomplished on Saturday), and it 
was so great an event that it was incorporated into the 
meaning of their Sabbath. But under the Christian dis- 
pensation we have an event to take the place of that, and 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 397 

far greater than that ; that is, the resurrection of Christ, 
by which our eternal deliverance has been effected. His 
resurrection took place on Sunday, therefore Sunday is 
the day preferred for the Christian Sabbath. That is 
one reason for the change. 

The other is, because the design of the Sabbath is that 
it should be a day of delights, of rejoicing, a festal day, 
not a sad day ; a day of joy, not of gloom and fasting. 

Do you not know that in the early church men were 
forbidden to pray on their knees on the Sabbath ? They 
were to stand erect, exulting in the accomplishment of 
the work of God's redeeming love. That being the de- 
sign of the Sabbath, you can at once see that Saturday 
would not be the proper day for it, because on that day 
our Lord was in the grave under the power of death, and 
our redemption had not been accomplished ; whereas on 
Sunday he arose, bringing full redemption with him. 

Hence it was on Sunday, the day of his resurrection, 
that our Lord met his disciples assembled together. 
Hence it was on Sunday of the week following that he 
met them again assembled together. Hence it was on 
Sunday, called Pentecost, that the Spirit descended in a 
miraculous and glorious manner upon the apostles. 
Hence it was on Sunday the disciples were wont to as- 
semble to break bread and make charitable contributions 
to the suffering brethren. Hence it was that the Apos- 
tle John, in the Book of Revelation, styles this day 
"the Lord's day," and hence it is, too, that God has 
perpetually and gloriously annexed his blessing to the 
Christian Sabbath. Wherever throughout the Christian 
world Sunday has been observed as the Sabbath-day, it 
has been followed by all the blessings God has pro- 
nounced upon a proper observance of his day ; and it 
would be hard to find a more invincible proof of the 



398 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

actual resurrection of our Lord than that the church from 
the beginning selected Sunday, the day commemorating 
it, for its Sabbath-day. 

Our last remark has respect to the observance of the 
Sabbath. On this point I have said nothing, because 
the great need of our time is to- have a sense of the 
sacredness of the day revived in the hearts of Christian 
people. It is useless to talk about the manner in which 
the Sabbath should be observed, unless the people are 
convinced of its sacred character; and if they are con- 
vinced of its sacred character it will be easy for them to 
understand how it should be observed. The point de- 
manded to be emphasized at the present time is that the 
Sabbath is a sanctified day, set apart by God to a sacred 
and holy use. That is what is being lost out of the con- 
sciousness of Christian people. That is what we must 
labor to restore. Impress the people with the divinity 
of the day — that it is a divinely appointed season, and 
that in dishonoring it they are dishonoring a distinct 
ordinance of God. Make them to feel that it is not a mere 
institution of expediency ; not a mere matter of civil or 
ecclesiastical decree, but a day enjoined by God himself. 
Unless they feel that way, the current of worldly busi- 
ness and pleasure will sweep it from the church. The 
only alternative is either a Sabbath set apart by divine 
authority, or no Sabbath at all. We must labor to incul- 
cate the sacredness of the day upon the minds of our 
people alike, old and young. Otherwise they will do 
pretty much as they please on the Sabbath ; will travel 
on the Sabbath ; entertain socially on the Sabbath ; read 
novels, and newspapers, and magazines ; be careless 
about the requirements of the sanctuary, aud let their 
conversation run upon business, crops, politics, fashions, 
and other worldly things. 



THE GOSPEL AS FIRST REVEALED. 

BY REV. W. T. HALL, D. D., 

Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology, Theological 

Seminary, Columbia, S. C. 



"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and 
between thy seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and 
thou shalt bruise his heel." — Genesis iii. 15. 

THIS verse, though often quoted, is seldom made" 
the subject of public discourse. Yet, in itself and 
in its relation to other Scripture, it is eminently 
worthy of such consideration. It is the first form in 
which the gospel was revealed, and the germ of all sub- 
sequent revelations concerning Christ and his kingdom. 
We read it with the interest of an explorer who gazes 
into the fountain-head of some mighty river. There is, 
too, an advantage gained for the study of the nature of 
the gospel, by taking our stand at this first revelation. 
The plan of the Bible is not logical, as of a treatise, but 
historical. If we wish to study the political institutions 
of this country in which we live, we go back to the co- 
lonial period, and begin with the seeds and tendencies 
contained in the early deliverances of our fathers. 

I. This first gospel was not addressed directly to Adam 
and Eve. That they heard it, and were saved through 
faith in what it announced, is not questioned. The 
words themselves teach that the heart of the woman was 
renewed. And Adam proclaimed his faith by calling his 
wife Eve, a name identifying her as the mother of the 

399 



400 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

seed that should bruise the serpent's head. All this 
is true, and yet the words of the text are a part of the 
address to the serpent. This is a significant fact, and 
calls for our consideration. It intimates the radical char- 
acter and wide scope of the gospel. Adam and Eve had 
sinned in eating the forbidden fruit, and the divine dis- 
pleasure against them for their sin was signally mani- 
fested. But the real author of the ruin wrought in the 
garden of Eden was the devil, who is a liar and a mur- 
derer from the beginning. (John viii. 44.) So he is first 
addressed, and the curse is laid upon him. The effect of 
the gospel is not confined to the release of the captives 
of the serpent, but extends to the tempter as well. The 
serpent's head is to be bruised. The gospel goes to the 
root of the matter, and makes an end of sins. "Foras- 
much then as the children are partakers of flesh and 
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, 
that through death he might destroy him that had the 
power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews ii. 14.) 

II. Another circumstance that claims attention is that 
this first gospel is found in the bosom of a curse. The 
first curse and the first promise come to us in the same 
sentence ; and the form of the utterance is the curse 
upon the serpent. There is more in this association than 
the general fact that the salvation of God's people is al- 
ways attended with judgment upon their enemies. This 
interview in the garden follows closely upon the sin of 
our first parents. No one can read it and not recognize 
the intrinsic demerit of sin and the awful character of 
the retributive justice of God. God made man holy, and 
gave him dominion over this beautiful world. He 
made a covenant with man upon the easiest of terms, 
and gave to man the opportunity, under that covenant, 
of securing eternal blessedness by a brief period of obe- 



THE GOSPEL AS FIRST REVEALED. 401 

dience. The tempter entered, and man fell. At once 
he felt in his soul both nakedness and guilt. God is 
just as well as merciful. Sin is death to the soul. This 
is the plain import of the shame and dread of Adam and 
Eve after they had sinned. They were now under the 
curse of the violated covenant of works. It is in this 
situation the first promise is made to them. To provide 
relief for their guilt and shame was the object of the first 
promise, so far as they were concerned. It was a pro- 
mise of salvation to them through the coming seed of 
the woman. He was to bruise the head of the serpent, 
and to put enmity between him and the family of man. 
In accomplishing this the serpent was to bruise his heel. 
The deliverance was to be effected by suffering, by vica- 
rious suffering. This much is plain from the promise 
itself; and that the suffering was to be expiatory in its 
nature was signified by the institution of sacrifice in the 
family of Adam. The great doctrine that without the 
shedding of blood there is no remission was imbedded in 
the gospel from the first. There was no hint to the 
heads of the fallen race that a great teacher, or one who 
should seal his testimony by his death, could save them. 
They were not treated as unfortunate dupes of Satan, 
who needed only a spectacular exhibition of self-sacrific- 
ing love to win back their hearts to the love of God. No 
intimation was thrown out that God, as the moral Gov- 
ernor of the world, must make an example of some suf- 
ferer, in order that he might not be misconstrued when 
he forgave sin. Nothing of all this. In fact, it is won- 
derful how all the false gospels that men have devised 
were anticipated by the first promise, and condemned in 
advance. The language of the New Testament reads 
like a commentary on the first promise : " For as many 
as are of the works of the law are under the curse : for 
26 



402 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in 
all things which are written in the book of the law to 
do them. . . . Christ hath redeemed us from the curse 
of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, 
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." (Galatians 
iii. 10, 12.) "For as by one man's disobedience many 
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall 
many be made righteous." (Romans v. 19.) 

III. Passing now from the form to the matter of this 
first gospel, we have an intimation of a conflict, ending 
in victory. The conflict is threefold. We take the 
features in the order of the record. 

A personal conflict is first announced. "I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman." Literally, I am 
putting enmity between thee and the woman. The con- 
flict has already begun ; and having begun, it is to know 
no end in this world. Such seems to be the import of 
the phrase, "lam putting enmity." The unholy alliance 
between Eve and the serpent has been broken. Instead 
of concord there is enmity. Eve has new views, new 
feelings, and new purposes. A new heart has been 
given her. This great change is expressly said to be 
the work of God. In its beginning and in its progress 
he claims to be the author of it. It was a work of grace. 
And the work is done through a mediator. The con- 
text shows this. In fact, when Eve says, in Genesis 
iv. 1 , "I have gotten a man from the Lord, ' ' she speaks 
as if she already possessed the deliverer. The Scriptures 
teach everywhere that two great objects were accom- 
plished by the work of Christ, the removal of the curse 
due to sin, and restoration to the image and fellowship 
of God. The first he accomplished by his obedience to 
the precept and penalty of the law ; the second he secures 
by the renewing and sanctifying power of the Holy 



THE GOSPEL AS FIRST REVEALED. 403* 

Spirit, purchased for his people. It would seem that 
Eve was the first subject of saving grace, as she had 
been first in the transgression. And that the evidence 
to herself and to others of the reign of grace in her heart 
was a war against the serpent. In this she is the type 
of all her descendants, who, like her, are renewed by the 
Spirit of God. There is a personal conflict for every 
believer with the evil one. The seat of the war is in 
the heart. The dominion of sin is broken by the new 
birth, but the seeds are not all exterminated. Satan 
does not yield his prey without an effort. The Saviour 
sustains faith and all the graces ; Satan injects doubts, 
weakens confidence, seeks to seduce by his guile. The 
conflict is inevitable. It is sometimes prolonged, and it 
is always distressing ; but it is to end in victory. Chris- 
tians sometimes complain that they have not the joys of 
salvation. They forget that this is not the period of 
reward. This is the day of battle. It is not to be ex- 
pected that a battle-field will be particularly a place for 
comfort. The great question with all of us is, are we 
fighting the good fight of faith ? Religion has its joys 
even here, but its real rewards come after we have fought 
a good fight and have finished our course. Let us give 
attention to what principally concerns us here. Are we 
born again? Have we undergone that great change 
represented in Eve? Do we hate evil? There are but 
two classes of men upon the earth, those who are the 
enemies of the evil one, and those who have in them the 
carnal mind, which is enmity against God. It may seem 
strange to some that enmity can be the fruit of the grace 
of God, or taken as evidence of a gracious state. The 
thought is, God is love, and to be like him we must be 
full of love. Paul says, "Now abideth faith, hope, 
charity; but the greatest of these is charity." But it 



404 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

must be remembered that the Scriptures also say, " The 
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all un- 
godliness and unrighteousness of men." We have also 
the command, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." 
The fact is, that the moral quality of our affections is 
determined by the objects to which they are directed. 
It is right to love holiness, it is wrong to hate holiness. 
It is right to hate evil, it is wrong to love evil. We can 
never love God too ardently ; we can never hate the evii 
one excessively. A heart that does not love God is not 
pure ; a heart that does not hate evil is corrupt. Possibly 
there is a suggestion in the text that the best evidence 
of a renewed state is enmity to the devil and his works. 
The enmity is certainly represented as progressing. The 
statement, ' ' I am putting enmity, ' ' sounds very much 
like our Lord's language about the leaven. It was put 
in the meal, where it worked till the whole was leavened. 
Such a settled and growing enmity to sin harmonizes 
well with the precept to avoid in the life the very ap- 
pearance of evil. If such is the state of the heart, there 
can be no yearning after worldly conformity, and self- 
denial will be habitual. The thought of the heart will 
be, how can we be delivered from the evils of our nature ; 
rather than, how near may we live to the world and yet 
escape its doom ! 

A general conflict is next proclaimed. I am putting 
enmity "between thy seed and her seed." That this is 
a conflict distinct from the one mentioned in the last 
clause of the verse is clear, because there the parties 
are the serpent himself and the seed of the woman. 
Who are the parties to this general conflict? To limit 
the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent so as 
to make the conflict nothing more than the mutual 
antipathy between all men and literal serpents is puerile. 



THE GOSPEL AS FIRST REVEALED. 405 

The seed of the woman, in the strict sense, is Christ. 
So Paul says expressly, in Galatians iii. 16. But in say- 
ing so he speaks of Christ as the head of the body of 
believers. That the word ' ' seed ' ' is used in a secondary 
sense is clear both from the Old Testament and the New 
Testament. The two lines of descent from Adam, through 
Cain and through Seth, indicate the import of the phrases 
' ' seed of the woman ' ' and ' ' seed of the serpent. ' ' The 
first is the ungodly line, in which is found polygamy and 
murder. The second is the line of life, spiritual life. In 
John viii. 44, Jesus said to the wicked Jews, " Ye are of 
your father the devil." And in his interpretation of the 
parable of the tares he said, ' ' The good seed are the 
children of the kingdom. But the tares are the children 
of the wicked one." It is plain that the parties to this 
general conflict are two sections of the descendants of 
Eve. Satan set up a kingdom in this world when he 
triumphed in Eden. He is called the god of this world, 
and he is the head of an organized conspiracy of evil. 
Christ's people are also an organized host, going forth 
under his leadership to conquer this world. For six 
thousand years this mighty conflict has been waged. 
The battle has been fierce, as well as long. Beginning 
with righteous Abel under the Old Testament, and again 
with holy Stephen under this dispensation, the church 
has her roll of martyrs to the truth. And yet victory is 
certain. In these last days we see the promise of ap- 
proaching triumph. The church of God confronts the 
kingdom of darkness in every quarter of the earth. It 
was my privilege once to witness a review of a great 
army. Stretching across a broad plain in double lines, 
composed of strong men with brave hearts, the bur- 
nished arms flashing in the sunlight, while the waving 
banners mark the various organizations — the sight 



406 SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN PULPIT. 

was inspiring to the heart of a patriot. In a moment, 
however, my mind reverted to the church, and I felt the 
force of the exclamation, ' ' Who is she that looketh forth 
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and 
terrible as an army with banners! " Brethren, are we 
good soldiers of Christ ? Do we sympathize with the 
purposes of our great teacher? Are we obedient to 
orders, patient under discipline and present for duty? 
Are we sustaining the church at home and abroad ? 

Last of all, we have the announcement of a special con- 
flict. '„! He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise 
his heel." The parties here are Christ and the devil. 
That Christ is intended has always been the faith of the 
church ; and for it there is good reason. He is identi- 
fied, as we have seen, by the Apostle Paul as the "seed" 
of the woman. The term did not begin with Abraham 
and the covenant with him, to which the apostle refers. 
It had its introduction in the Eden gospel. From the 
mother of the race it descended, narrowing as it went, to 
Abraham and then to David's line, and was fulfilled in 
Christ. Besides this, why is he the seed of Eve and not 
of Adam ? In the covenant of works Adam was the party 
made prominent. And so it was in the case of Noah, 
of Abraham, and of David. There must have been some 
peculiar sense in which the word ' ' seed ' ' was used in 
this first promise — a sense like that realized in the son of 
Mary. And still further, it is onfy at this feature of the 
conflict that victory is proclaimed. The result of the 
personal and the general conflict is not stated. The 
victor comes in at the special conflict, not only triumph- 
ing gloriously over the great enemy of God and man, but 
reflecting triumph back upon the Christian conflict, both 
in its individual and general aspect. He is represented 
as a person, as the son of the woman, and as the con- 



THE GOSPEL AS FIRST REVEALED. 407 

queror of the devil ; a true man, and yet more than a man. 
The voice of prophecy continued to hold up the com- 
ing seed of the woman to the faith of the ancient church 
as a mighty conqueror. The apostles proclaimed that 
the risen Saviour had assailed principalites and powers. 
The authors of the life of our Lord represent him as spe- 
cially engaged in conflict with the devil at the opening 
and the close of his public ministry. All the guile of the 
tempter was brought into play in the assault in the wil- 
derness, and all his malice and power in Gethsemane and 
on Calvary. This world has no other battle-field like 
these. The serpent had power to bruise his heel. This 
does not denote the slight injury supposed by some. 
A gallant officer, a friend of mine, received a Minie ball 
in the heel, by a flanking column, in one of the great 
battles of the late war between the States. Hearing of 
it, I inquired about it of the surgeons. They said, " Not 
necessarily fatal, but serious." The heel, they said, had 
so many bones that a wound there was serious. And so 
it was. He suffered much and long, but lives to-day to 
be elected for the third time to the Senate of the United 
States. What the Saviour of sinners endured in the 
garden and on the cross no heart can conceive. But the 
victory was never for a moment doubtful ; and it was 
thorough and complete. He bruised the serpent's head. 
Through death he destroyed him that had the power of 
death. And now, my hearer, is not this enough? May 
I not ask you to look to this victorious sufferer and live! 
He had no battle of his own to fight, he entered the lists 
as our friend. He met our enemy and overcame him 
for us. He has the right in view of his triumph to say, 
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest." He said in anticipation of 
his death, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men 
unto me." Shall it not be true of you? 








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